Psychometric properties of the Avoidance and Fusion Questionnaire for older adults

Background: Psychological inflexibility is rigid responding to thoughts and feelings that undermines well-being and adaptive responses to life’s challenges. To measure this, the aim was to adapt and examine the psychometric properties of the Avoidance and Fusion Questionnaire (AFQ-Y8) in older adults.

Method: Participants were 312 people aged 65-92 years (M = 72.07; SD = 5.49; 75.3% women). Two items and response options were modified to create the Avoidance and Fusion Questionnaire for Older Adults (AFQ-OA). Measures included cognitive fusion, physical functioning, self-perceptions of aging, activity restriction, activity level, family functioning, and anxiety and depressive symptoms. Analyses included exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, gender invariance, internal consistency, test–retest reliability, and evidence of validity based on test content, response processes, and relations to other variables.

Results: The AFQ-OA showed a one-factor structure, good reliability, and significant associations with cognitive fusion, poorer physical functioning, less positive self-perceptions of aging, activity restriction, lower activity, poorer family functioning, and anxiety and depressive symptoms. It was also associated with anxiety and depressive symptoms 12 months later.

Conclusions: The AFQ-OA provides preliminary evidence of reliability and validity as a measure of psychological inflexibility in older adults and contributes to understanding health in this population.