Department of Psychiatry, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China.
J Psychosom Res. 2011 Dec;71(6):387-91. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2011.05.013. Epub 2011 Jul 1.
To examine the psychometric properties of the Chinese seven-item Whiteley Index (WI-7) in the general population of Hong Kong.
A random community-based telephone survey of 3014 respondents aged 15-65 was conducted using a fully structured questionnaire that included the WI-7, 15-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-15), Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS), and items about the frequency of health service use, perceived helpfulness of doctors, level of satisfaction with doctors, and sociodemographic variables. A sub-sample of 199 respondents was re-interviewed to assess test-retest reliability.
The WI-7 exhibited satisfactory internal consistency (Cronbach's α=0.73) and stable one-month test-retest reliability. The most commonly endorsed item was "worrying a lot about one's health" (55.7%), followed by "worrying about getting the disease oneself if it is brought to his/her attention" (48.7%) and "bothered by many different pains and aches" (33.9%). Age, gender, and monthly family income significantly predicted WI-7 score. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that a 2-factor structure was superior to a 1-factor structure in fitting the data. WI-7 total score was positively associated with PHQ-15 somatic distress, SDS impairment, number of healthcare visits, lower levels of perceived helpfulness of doctors and of satisfaction with doctors.
The Chinese WI-7 exhibits satisfactory reliability and internal validity in a general population. It is a promising tool for the empirical examination of health anxiety which is a common experience with a mostly typical epidemiological profile among Chinese people in Hong Kong.
考察香港普通人群中中文版七项怀特利指数（WI-7）的心理测量特性。
采用完全结构式问卷，对 3014 名 15-65 岁的随机社区居民进行了电话调查。问卷包括 WI-7、15 项患者健康问卷（PHQ-15）、雪尔登残疾量表（SDS）以及关于卫生服务使用频率、医生帮助程度、对医生满意度和社会人口学变量的项目。对 199 名受访者进行了亚样本重测，以评估测试-重测信度。
WI-7 表现出满意的内部一致性（Cronbach's α=0.73）和稳定的一个月重测信度。最常被认可的项目是“对自己的健康过分担心”（55.7%），其次是“如果有人提醒自己注意到这种疾病，就会担心自己会患上这种疾病”（48.7%）和“被许多不同的疼痛和不适所困扰”（33.9%）。年龄、性别和月家庭收入显著预测了 WI-7 评分。验证性因素分析表明，2 因素结构优于 1 因素结构，更适合拟合数据。WI-7 总分与 PHQ-15 躯体困扰、SDS 障碍、就诊次数、医生帮助程度和对医生满意度的降低呈正相关。
中文版 WI-7 在普通人群中具有令人满意的信度和内部有效性。它是一种很有前途的工具，可以用于检验香港华人中常见的健康焦虑的实证研究，这种焦虑具有典型的流行病学特征。
