Metacognitive skills inventory (MSI): development and validation

Abstract

Metacognitive skills help to control and regulate negative thoughts, emotions, beliefs and sad memories. The objective of the study was to develop and validate an inventory-Metacognitive Skills Inventory (MSI) to assess the variance in adopting metacognitive strategies between those who have depressive symptoms and those who have not. Two studies were carried out among Indian youth (study 1—N = 269, MeanAge= 21.1 and study 2—N = 745, MeanAge= 20.9). They completed the MSI as well as measures of depression and negative emotions. Item response theory (IRT) analysis, and exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were carried out for the scale development. The analyses derived a meaningful four-factor structure [(i) Navigation of negative thoughts by adopting metacognitive strategies, (ii) Channelizing negative emotions constructively, (iii) Recognizing ruminative tendencies, (iv) Knowledge of strengths and weaknesses in regulating emotions] of a 12-item MSI. An MSI could be used to identify patient-specific metacognitive skills in people with depressive symptoms, which need to be improved while doing Metacognitive Therapy (MCT) after validating clinical samples.