Psychometric properties of the Insomnia Catastrophizing Scale (ICS) in a large community sample

To catastrophize about poor sleep is likely something that everyone will encounter during episodes of sleep difficulties. The tendency to catastrophize about sleep disturbance and associated daytime consequences is particularly common among individuals with insomnia disorder. Due to a lack of self-report instruments designed to assess insomnia catastrophizing, we developed and validated the Insomnia Catastrophizing Scale (ICS). A large community sample of 1615 participants completed the ICS as well as other self-report items, including sleep, daytime impairment, anxiety, worry, and cognitive arousal. The findings demonstrated that the ICS consists of 17 items with two subscales, the first assessing nighttime catastrophizing and the second daytime catastrophizing. Both subscales displayed high internal consistencies (α > .90). Those classified as fulfilling criteria for insomnia disorder scored significantly higher, relative to those without insomnia disorder, on both subscales and the seventeen ICS items. Both subscales were associated with sleep and daytime disturbance as well as with measures assessing anxiety, worry, and cognitive arousal. Although more research is needed, we conclude that the ICS is a reliable and valid scale for the assessment of insomnia catastrophizing. It is our hope that these findings might pave way for using the ICS as a measurement tool in clinical practice and research settings.

Read the full paper: Markus Jansson-Fröjmark. (in press). Psychometric properties of the Insomnia Catastrophizing Scale (ICS) in a large community sample.Cognitive Behaviour Therapy.doi.org/10.1080/16506073.2019.1588362

Photo by: Adam Bindslev

Pictured: Markus Jansson-Fröjmark

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