Hadjistavropoulos H D, Asmundson G J
Section for Clinical Outcomes Research, Regina Health District, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Behav Res Ther. 1998 Dec;36(12):1185-95. doi: 10.1016/s0005-7967(98)00077-1.
The Illness Attitudes Scale (IAS) is a self-report instrument comprising nine subscales designed to assess fears, beliefs and attitudes associated with hypochondriasis and abnormal illness behaviour [Kellner (1986). Somatization and hypochondriasis. New York: Praeger.]. The purpose of the present study was to explore the factor structure of the IAS in a chronic pain sample as a preliminary step toward determining the use of this measure in this sample. Hypochondriacal tendencies have been postulated to play a role in maintaining and exacerbating responses to chronic pain and, therefore, appropriate measurement in this sample is important. In the present study, consecutive chronic pain patients presenting to a pain treatment program (N = 198) were administered the IAS. Principal component analysis with oblique (Oblimin) rotation identified that five factors best explain the measure in this population. These factors were (1) fear of illness, (2) effects of symptoms, (3) health habits, (4) disease phobia and conviction and (5) fear of death. The factor structure overlapped to some degree with the scoring of the IAS proposed by Kellner (1986), as well as with the factor structure identified in a non-clinical sample [Ferguson, E. & Daniel, E. (1995). The Illness Attitudes Scale (IAS): a psychometric evaluation on a non-clinical population. Personality and Individual Differences, 18, 463-469.]. There were enough discrepancies, however, to suggest an alternative method for scoring the IAS with chronic pain patients. Implications for the use of the measure with chronic pain patients, as well as future research directions for exploring the utility of this measure with chronic pain patients, are discussed.
疾病态度量表（IAS）是一种自我报告工具，由九个分量表组成，旨在评估与疑病症及异常疾病行为相关的恐惧、信念和态度[凯尔纳（1986年）。躯体化与疑病症。纽约：普雷格出版社]。本研究的目的是探讨IAS在慢性疼痛样本中的因子结构，作为确定该量表在该样本中适用性的初步步骤。据推测，疑病倾向在维持和加剧对慢性疼痛的反应中起作用，因此，在该样本中进行适当测量很重要。在本研究中，连续就诊于疼痛治疗项目的慢性疼痛患者（N = 198）接受了IAS测试。采用斜交（斜交最小平方法）旋转的主成分分析确定，五个因子最能解释该量表在这一人群中的情况。这些因子分别是：（1）疾病恐惧，（2）症状影响，（3）健康习惯，（4）疾病恐惧症与坚信感，（5）死亡恐惧。该因子结构在一定程度上与凯尔纳（1986年）提出的IAS评分方法重叠，也与在非临床样本中确定的因子结构重叠[弗格森，E. & 丹尼尔，E.（1995年）。疾病态度量表（IAS）：对非临床人群的心理测量评估。《个性与个体差异》，18，463 - 469]。然而，存在足够多的差异，表明对于慢性疼痛患者，有必要采用另一种方法对IAS进行评分。本文讨论了该量表在慢性疼痛患者中的应用意义，以及探索该量表在慢性疼痛患者中效用的未来研究方向。
