Assessing rumination in response to illness: the development and validation of the Multidimensional Rumination in Illness Scale (MRIS)

Abstract

The cognitive style of rumination extends existing cognitive models of emotional response to illness. In the absence of a specific measure, we developed the Multidimensional Rumination in Illness Scale (MRIS). In Study 1, an initial 60-item pool was tested, followed by confirmation of the factor structure in Study 2. In Study 1 participants (n = 185) completed the pilot version of the MRIS, then in Study 2 (n = 163) a reduced 41-item model was tested. Study 1: Exploratory factor analysis of a reduced 32-item scale indicated an initial four-factor solution for the MRIS (Intrusion, Brooding, Instrumental, Preventability), with satisfactory internal consistency and stable factor structure across gender. Study 2: Following scale revision, confirmatory factor analysis substantiated the adequacy of a three-factor MRIS structure, and good internal consistency, test-rest reliability, and concurrent and discriminant validity was demonstrated for the MRIS. The MRIS exhibited good psychometric properties in the current sample, providing a comprehensive assessment of the cognitive style of rumination in the context of physical illness.

Rumination in migraine: Mediating effects of brooding and reflection between migraine and psychological distress

“…Brooding and reflection partially mediated the relationship between migraine and psychological distress: migraine had both a direct effect and an indirect effect via rumination on psychological distress after controlling for potentially confounding variables of sex, age and lifetime depression. To our knowledge, this is the first study that examines the relationship between migraine and rumination and its components, and our results are in line with Soo et al’s perspective ( 2014 , 2009 ) that rumination could be a relevant process in somatic conditions.…”

“…We only investigated if rumination was related to low mood, though other ruminative processes such as ruminative thoughts in response to physical illness (Soo et al, 2014 ) are also important, and perhaps give insight into the factors relating to the adjustment in chronic conditions. Longitudinal studies need to address whether increased rumination is a reaction to perceived loss due to the impact of migraine, or whether it is observed in the premorbid personality.…”

Rumination, psychological distress and post-traumatic growth in women diagnosed with breast cancer

“…Two supplementary items were scored separately from the main scale and indicated the ‘amount of time thoughts about illness were accompanied by feelings or emotions’ (5‐point Likert‐type scale; ‘0’ = ‘not at all’ to 4 = ‘almost always’) and whether ‘these feelings or emotions tend to be more positively or negatively orientated’ (5‐point Likert‐type scale; ‘0’ = ‘very negative’ to 4 = ‘very positive’). Full scales and subscales have demonstrated internal consistency, test–retest reliability and validity . High internal consistency was demonstrated for the full scale (0.94), and the subscales of intrusion (0.90), brooding (0.92) and instrumentality (0.86) in the current study.…”

Rumination as Predictor of Anxiety, Depression, Stress and Affect among People with Traumatic Amputation in Pakistan

“…Second, in the exploration of relationship between the dimensions of rumination i.e., intrusion, instrumentality, and brooding with proposed outcomes, results indicated that 'instrumentality' which is explained as 'positive rumination and it mostly results in positive belief and thoughts which are helpful in coping up and finding a new meaning to life' (Fritz, 1999;Soo, Sherman, Kangas, 2014) depicted a positive relationship with stress and positive affect only. This is consistent with empirical evidence suggesting that rumination might help the individual experiencing traumatic amputation to accept and cope with sudden physical disability (Fritz, 1999).…”

“…Studies have provided sufficient support for the link between rumination and positive growth (see, for instance, García, Cova, Rincón, Vázquez & Páez, 2016). Other dimension of rumination included intrusion which is defined as 'uncontrollable negative thoughts' and lastly, brooding which refers to 'negative experiences and perceiving consequences of illness' (Fritz, 1999;Soo, Sherman, Kangas, 2014) yielded positive relationship with anxiety, negative affect and depression, anxiety, stress and negative affect respectively. Though anxiety and depression are operationalized as theoretically different constructs, there is some overlapping between the two and both have been observed to have a high comorbidity (Olatunji, Kristin &Taylor, 2013).…”