[Validation of a questionnaire of physical sensations in a French-Canadian population].

The objectives of this study are three-fold. The first objective is to present the aspects of reliability and validity of a self-reported questionnaire that evaluates a specific facet of Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia (PDA) for the francophone population of Quebec, mainly the fear of fear. The Body Sensations Questionnaire (17), translated as the Questionnaire des Sensations Physiques (QSP) evaluates the degree to which individuals fear somatic symptoms commonly associated with panic. A second objective is to determine the factorial validity of the QSP and to investigate the dimensionality of the construct as assessed by the questionnaire. The third objective is to establish a reference database for the agoraphobic (N = 141 and N = 70) and the non-clinical population (N = 223). Results suggest that both questionnaires have similar internal consistency, temporal stability, construct validity, and discriminative validity. While the factorial solution of the present study uncovered a three-factor model (somatic, cardiac, and psychosensorial), which points to the multidimensional nature of the construct evaluated by the QSP, it greatly differs from the one obtained by Arrindel's study (5). Nevertheless, the extraction of the three principal components is supported by the results of the screen test and by two different implementations of parallel analysis, i.e., the computation of random eigen values and the use of an interpolation table of eigen values. Finally, it can be concluded that the psychometric properties of the French-Canadian translation of the BSQ are indications that it is an appropriate instrument to use in clinical research and in clinical practice to assess the fear of bodily sensations associated with the fear of fear.