Misophonia: A self-report-based scale development study

Abstract

Introduction

Misophonia is an increasingly common psychiatric problem. Responses to triggers can lead to suicide, social isolation and poor quality of life. However, scale studies of misophonia usually focus on triggers and responses to triggers. Therefore, there is a need for scales that focus on measuring the effects of misophonia on daily functioning, interpersonal relationships and overall functional capacity.

Objective

This research aims to create a scale and validate its psychometric properties to assess the effects of misophonia on daily functioning, interpersonal relationships and overall functional capacity.

Methods

This scale for misophonia was applied to 326 participants reached online. The data were analyzed through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and internal consistency was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha.

Results

The scale shows a four-factor structure with EFA and explains 63.41% of the total variance. With CFA, the standard regression coefficients ranged between 0.51 and 0.98. In the internal consistency analysis, Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.96 and the correlation coefficients for the item–total score were in the range 0.43–0.78.

Conclusion

This scale, consisting of 30 items and four sub-dimensions, is a valid and reliable measurement tool for diagnosing and understanding the severity of misophonia in Turkish society.