Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
Division of Psychology, School of Applied Sciences, London South Bank University, London, UK.
Clin Psychol Psychother. 2020 Jul;27(4):581-596. doi: 10.1002/cpp.2444. Epub 2020 Mar 20.
Cyberchondria refers to the tendency to excessively and compulsively search for online medical information despite the distress experienced, with consequent impairment of daily-life activities. The current two studies sought to explore (i) the factor structure of the Italian version of the Cyberchondria Severity Scale (CSS) and (ii) a metacognitive model of cyberchondria. Participants were Italian community adults who reported using the Internet to search for health-related information (Study 1: N = 374, Study 2: N = 717). Results from Study 1 supported the Italian version of the CSS exhibiting a five-factor structure, with the resulting scales demonstrating good internal consistency, 5-week test-retest reliability, and generally strong correlations with indices of health anxiety. In Study 2, results of a path analysis showed that the negative metacognitive belief domain ("thoughts are uncontrollable") shared the strongest direct association with each of the five dimensions of cyberchondria, followed by beliefs about rituals. Consistently, the strongest indirect associations were found between "thoughts are uncontrollable" and all the five cyberchondria dimensions via beliefs about rituals. These results provide support for an Italian version of the CSS and the metacognitive conceptualization of cyberchondria.
网络疑病症是指尽管感到痛苦，但仍过度强迫性地在网上搜索医学信息，从而影响日常生活活动的倾向。目前的两项研究旨在探索：(i) 意大利版网络疑病症严重程度量表 (CSS) 的因素结构；(ii) 网络疑病症的元认知模型。参与者为报告使用互联网搜索与健康相关信息的意大利社区成年人（研究 1：N = 374；研究 2：N = 717）。研究 1 的结果支持意大利版 CSS 呈现五因素结构，所得量表表现出良好的内部一致性、5 周重测信度，并且通常与健康焦虑指数有较强的相关性。在研究 2 中，路径分析的结果表明，消极的元认知信念领域（“思维不可控”）与网络疑病症的五个维度都有最强的直接关联，其次是关于仪式的信念。一致地，“思维不可控”与所有五个网络疑病症维度之间通过关于仪式的信念发现了最强的间接关联。这些结果为 CSS 的意大利版本和网络疑病症的元认知概念化提供了支持。
