The importance of core beliefs in the process of posttraumatic adaptation – the Polish adaptation of the Core Beliefs Inventory

Purpose
The process of adaptation to trauma requires readiness to assess the distortion of basic beliefs related to an experienced life event. The adapted Core Beliefs Inventory, developed by Cann et al., measures readiness to revise distorted as a result of the trauma the basic beliefs.

Method
The basis for the evaluation of the psychometric properties of the Inventory is the results of surveys of several groups of people (N = 415), who experienced a traumatic event (domestic violence, illness, transport accident). Except the Core Beliefs Inventory (CBI) the following tests have been applied: the Impact of Event Scale – Revised, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist, Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, Posttraumatic Cognitions Inventory, Cognitive Processing of Trauma Scale and Event Related Rumination Inventory.

Results
Study of structural relevancy confirmed the heterogeneity of the construct of basic beliefs. The best features are a 3-factor model that explains 74.9% variance. Reliability: Cronbach α is 0.90 for the whole scale and 0.57 to 0.70 for the 3 factors; test-retest stability is from 0.52 to 0.77. External validity was confirmed by correlating CBI with the results of other tools, including PTCI, CPOTS and ERRI. Sten standards were established for the general belief indicator. A stronger association of disruptions of core beliefs with PTSD (r = 0.55) than PTG (r = 0.40) was confirmed.

Conclusions
Polish version of CBI seems to be a useful tool for assessing disruptions of core beliefs and can be applied both in research and in practice.