Picariello, Federica, Chilcot, Joseph, Chalder, Trudie et al. · British journal of health psychology · 2023 · DOI
This study tested a questionnaire called the CBRQ that measures how people think about and respond to their symptoms in ways that might make them worse or keep them the same. The researchers checked whether this questionnaire works well across different long-term illnesses, including chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), and found that it reliably measures seven different thought and behaviour patterns. They also created and tested a shorter version of the questionnaire that works just as well.
For ME/CFS patients and researchers, this study validates a tool that can systematically measure unhelpful thinking and coping patterns that may perpetuate symptom severity. Understanding and measuring these cognitive and behavioural responses is important for developing and evaluating behavioural interventions, and this questionnaire works consistently across different chronic illnesses including ME/CFS.
This study does not prove that these cognitive and behavioural responses *cause* worsening of symptoms—it only shows they can be reliably measured. The study does not establish whether changing these responses actually improves ME/CFS outcomes, nor does it demonstrate the questionnaire's ability to predict symptom changes over time (test-retest reliability and longitudinal sensitivity to change were not fully evaluated).
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
Spotted an error in this entry? Report it →