Metacognitions Questionnaire - 30 (MCQ-30)
What it is
The MCQ-30 (Metacognitions Questionnaire - 30) is a self-report measure that assesses metacognitive beliefs (i.e.. Beliefs about thinking) in adults. It can be used to examine metatcognitive beliefs, judgments and monitoring tendencies that are considered as important in a range of psychological disorders. The questionnaire measures general metacognitive beliefs and domains of positive and negative metacognitive beliefs, metacognitive monitoring and judgements of cognitive confidence. The measure provides a total score and five subscales:
- Positive beliefs about worry.
- Negative beliefs about thoughts concerning uncontrollability and danger.
- Cognitive confidence (assessing confidence in attention and memory).
- Negative beliefs concerning the consequences of not controlling thoughts.
- Cognitive self-consciousness (the tendency to focus attention on thought processes).
How is it used
- Can be used with adults (18yrs+)
- Takes approximately 7mins to complete
- Asks about domains of positive and negative metacognitive beliefs, metacognitive monitoring and judgements of cognitive confidence
- Used to assess metacognitive beliefs in a wide range of psychological disorders
What do the scores mean?
The MCQ-30 has 30 items, with all items using the same four level response from 1 (do not agree) to 4 (agree very much). The questionnaire provides a total score of metacognitive beliefs about thinking that is scored between 30 and 120 with higher scores reflecting more damaging metacognitive beliefs. The questionnaire also provides five subscales of a lack of cognitive confidence, positive beliefs about worry, cognitive self-consciousness, negative beliefs about uncontrollable thoughts and a need to control thoughts. All subscales are scored from 6 to 24 with higher scores reflecting worse scores.
Developer
Wells A & Cartwright-Hatton S (2004). A short form of the Metacognitions Questionnaire: Properties of the MCQ-30. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 42, 385-396.
Further reading:
Fergus TA & Bardeen J (2017). The Metacognitions Questionnaire-30. Assessment. 26.