Positive and Negative Thinking in Tinnitus: Factor Structure of the Tinnitus Cognitions Questionnaire.
Lucy E Handscomb, Deborah A Hall, Gillian W Shorter and 1 others
PMID 27560491WHAT IT FOUND
The Tinnitus Cognitions Questionnaire reliably measures both positive and negative thoughts in a UK survey of 342 adults.
Negative thinking strongly tracked with distress, but positive thinking did not show a simple link to lower severity.
Key findings
01The Tinnitus Cognitions Questionnaire showed high internal consistency for both the negative and positive thinking subscales.
02Scores on the negative thinking subscale were significantly higher for people who rated their tinnitus as a bigger problem.
03Positive thinking scores did not simply decrease as tinnitus severity increased, with the lowest positive thinking scores found in the moderate problem group.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study only included people from the general population, not clinical patients seeking treatment. The items on the questionnaire were not selected through a systematic process. The very high internal consistency suggests some items may be redundant. The study used a single-item measure to categorize tinnitus severity.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that increasing positive thinking will directly reduce tinnitus distress. The study found that positive and negative thinking are separate constructs, and the group with no tinnitus problems actually reported the fewest positive thoughts, suggesting they simply did not think about tinnitus rather than engaging in active positive coping.