A global measure of sickness behaviour: development of the Sickness Questionnaire

Anna Andreasson; Rikard K. Wicksell; Karin Lodin; Bianka Karshikoff; John Axelsson; Mats Lekander

doi:10.1177/1359105316659917

A global measure of sickness behaviour: development of the Sickness Questionnaire

Anna Andreasson, Rikard K. Wicksell, Karin Lodin, Bianka Karshikoff, John Axelsson, Mats Lekander

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

21 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Symptoms after inflammatory activation, so-called sickness behaviour, overlap with trans-diagnostic complaints. As no self-report questionnaire to assess sickness behaviour exists, we aimed to develop such an instrument, the Sickness Questionnaire. Items responsive to experimentally induced inflammatory activation (randomized double-blind study endotoxin (0.6 ng/kg) versus placebo, n = 52) were selected and the statistical properties were examined in 172 primary care patients. A principal component analysis indicated a one-factor solution (Cronbach's alpha = .86). This 10-item scale correlated with depression (β = .41, p < .001), anxiety (β = .36, p < .001), self-rated health (β = .28, p < .001) and a single item of feeling sick (β = .55, p < .001). The results support the adequacy of Sickness Questionnaire as a brief assessment instrument of perceived sickness behaviour.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1452-1463
Number of pages	12
Journal	Journal of Health Psychology
Volume	23
Issue number	11
Early online date	24 Jul 2016
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105316659917
Publication status	Published - 1 Sep 2018
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

endotoxin
sickness behaviour
Sickness Questionnaire
sickness response
validation

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10.1177/1359105316659917

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title = "A global measure of sickness behaviour: development of the Sickness Questionnaire",

abstract = "Symptoms after inflammatory activation, so-called sickness behaviour, overlap with trans-diagnostic complaints. As no self-report questionnaire to assess sickness behaviour exists, we aimed to develop such an instrument, the Sickness Questionnaire. Items responsive to experimentally induced inflammatory activation (randomized double-blind study endotoxin (0.6 ng/kg) versus placebo, n = 52) were selected and the statistical properties were examined in 172 primary care patients. A principal component analysis indicated a one-factor solution (Cronbach's alpha = .86). This 10-item scale correlated with depression (β = .41, p < .001), anxiety (β = .36, p < .001), self-rated health (β = .28, p < .001) and a single item of feeling sick (β = .55, p < .001). The results support the adequacy of Sickness Questionnaire as a brief assessment instrument of perceived sickness behaviour.",

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AU - Lodin, Karin

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AU - Axelsson, John

AU - Lekander, Mats

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