Proposed cut‐off scores for self‐management questionnaires

Abstract

Background: Self‐management or self‐control interventions are considered to have strong support as effective treatments for disorders related to volition and emotion management, and five self‐report instruments have been designed to measure self‐management skills to aid in assessment and treatment.Aim: The current study was designed to provide guidelines for clinical cut‐off scores which could be used to enhance the interpretability of self‐management instruments and the scores they produce.Materials and Methods: Two separate multi‐ethnic samples of college students were administered a battery of questionnaires, including the measures of self‐management and measures of anxiety and depression.Results: The results obtained from participants with elevated anxious and depressive symptomatology were analyzed to obtain clinical cut‐off scores. Both samples of participants produced similar cut‐off scores across different measures of anxiety and depression.Discussion: The consistency of obtained cut‐off scores across samples suggests the validity of these scores. Future research should replicate these findings in other samples, including clinical samples.Conclusion: The clinical cut‐off scores obtained in this study may help guide the use and interpretation of these five self‐management instruments.