Metacognitions in Young and Middle-Aged Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction: A Psychometric Study of the Metacognitions Questionnaire-30

Zizheng Liu,1,* Panpan Wang,1,2,* Yiwen Wang,3 Wenqian He,4 Ying Qin,1 Lianke Wang,1 Qiang Zhang,1 Ruiyi Yang,1 Changqing Sun1,2 1School of Nursing and Health, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan, 450001, People’s Republic of China; 2College of Public Health, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan, 450001, People’s Republic of China; 3The Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Zhengzhou University & Henan Cancer Hospital, Zhengzhou, Henan, 450008, People’s Republic of China; 4School of Public Health, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, 35487, USA*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Changqing Sun, Email [email protected]: The study aimed to conduct a psychometric validation of the Chinese version of the Metacognitions Questionnaire-30 (MCQ-30) and to explore the association between metacognitive factors and post-traumatic growth (PTG).Methods: 313 young and middle-aged patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) were recruited between October 2023 and June 2024 from a tertiary hospital in Zhengzhou, China. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test established factor structures of the MCQ-30. The reliability tests, criterion-related validity analyses, and regression models were conducted.Results: CFA results supported the five-factor structure of the MCQ-30, with satisfactory model fit and good reliability. Criterion-related validity was also supported by significant positive correlations between the five factors and depression/anxiety symptoms. All five metacognition factors were also significantly correlated with PTG.Conclusion: The findings support the use of the Chinese version of the MCQ-30 as a potentially reliable and valid instrument for assessing metacognitive beliefs in young and middle-aged AMI patients. Given the sampling method and cross-sectional design, results should be interpreted cautiously. Further research with larger sample sizes, and longitudinal design is needed to validate the above results.Keywords: myocardial infarction, metacognition, post-traumatic growth, anxiety, depression, psychometrics