Mizrachi Nofar, Kube Tobias, Rozenkrantz Liron
Psychobiology of Beliefs Lab, The Azrieli Faculty of Medicine, Bar-Ilan University, Safed, Israel.
Department of Psychology, University of Kaiserslautern-Landau, Landau, Germany.
Br J Health Psychol. 2025 Feb;30(1):e12772. doi: 10.1111/bjhp.12772.
While ample research links health beliefs to physical health in both healthy and clinical populations, the specific health beliefs that drive this effect remain underexplored. Addressing this gap is critical for mechanistic examinations and targeted intervention development. Building on previous work, this study aimed to assess subjective beliefs about immune system efficacy and develop a novel Perceived Immunity scale.
Across three studies (total N = 378; Study 1: N = 206 healthy; Study 2: N = 132 healthy and N = 40 with immune-related diseases; and Study 3: subset of N = 87 from Study 2), we examine Perceived Immunity scale's validity, reliability, and association with everyday physical health.
Perceived immunity demonstrated excellent internal consistency (Cronbach alpha = 0.9), strong construct validity (all items were loaded onto one factor) and structural validity, including convergence validity with scales assessing subjective health perceptions, and discriminant validity from scales measuring external health control. These findings were replicated across different cohorts. Furthermore, regression analyses revealed significant correlations with daily physical health measures, specifically somatic symptoms, across cohorts (all β > -0.347, all p < .001) and sick leave days (all β = -0.174, all p < .045). These associations were stronger in individuals with immune-related conditions. Finally, Perceived Immunity exhibited good test-retest reliability (interclass correlation coefficient = 0.74) and prospectively predicted somatic symptoms over time (β = -0.324, p = .002), with significant results observed up to 1 year.
The Perceived Immunity scale offers a valuable tool for researchers and health care providers, providing insights into the interplay between specific health beliefs and daily health. Furthermore, its validation lays the groundwork for targeted interventions that explore how health perceptions may directly influence actual physical experiences.
虽然大量研究将健康信念与健康人群和临床人群的身体健康联系起来，但驱动这种效应的具体健康信念仍未得到充分探索。填补这一空白对于进行机制研究和开发有针对性的干预措施至关重要。基于先前的研究工作，本研究旨在评估关于免疫系统功效的主观信念，并开发一种新的感知免疫力量表。
在三项研究中（总样本量N = 378；研究1：N = 206名健康者；研究2：N = 132名健康者和N = 40名患有免疫相关疾病者；研究3：从研究2中选取的N = 87的子集），我们检验了感知免疫力量表的效度、信度及其与日常身体健康的关联。
感知免疫力显示出出色的内部一致性（克朗巴哈系数α = 0.9）、较强的结构效度（所有项目都加载到一个因子上）和结构效度，包括与评估主观健康认知的量表的聚合效度，以及与测量外部健康控制的量表的区分效度。这些发现已在不同队列中得到重复验证。此外，回归分析显示，在不同队列中，感知免疫力与日常身体健康指标，特别是躯体症状（所有β > -0.347，所有p < .001）和病假天数（所有β = -0.174，所有p < .045）均存在显著相关性。在患有免疫相关疾病的个体中，这些关联更强。最后，感知免疫力表现出良好的重测信度（组内相关系数 = 0.74），并能前瞻性地预测一段时间内的躯体症状（β = -0.324，p = .002），在长达1年的时间内都观察到了显著结果。
感知免疫力量表为研究人员和医疗保健提供者提供了一个有价值的工具，有助于深入了解特定健康信念与日常健康之间的相互作用。此外，它的验证为探索健康认知如何直接影响实际身体体验的有针对性干预措施奠定了基础。
