Discriminant validity of the illness behavior questionnaire and millon clinical multiaxial inventory-III in a heterogeneous sample of psychiatric outpatients

The measurement of abnormal illness behavior: Toward a new research agenda for the Illness Behavior Questionnaire

“…In the psychiatric domain, the IBQ has been used to measure the reporting of physical symptoms in the absence of accompanying pathology such as in the case of somatoform disorders including somatization disorder, conversion disorder, hypochondriasis, and body dysmorphic disorder [3]. Both individuals with somatic symptoms receiving inpatient care [27,49] and those seeking outpatient psychiatric care [36,[49][50][51] have been studied. AIB has also been studied among individuals with a psychiatric diagnosis of panic disorder [52,53] and hysteria [54].…”

“…To our knowledge, Form B has been administered only by Boyle and Le Déan [51], although they also simply calculated the subscales derived from Form A. Scores for each of the seven primary IBQ scales were compared between university students, adult members of the general community, and individuals receiving outpatient psychological care.…”

“…Scores for each of the seven primary IBQ scales were compared between university students, adult members of the general community, and individuals receiving outpatient psychological care. While scores for Disease Conviction, Affective Disturbance and Irritability were found to be significantly higher for the clinical sample than for the two nonclinical groups, the interpretation of these findings is also limited by the failure to establish the health status of participants [51]. It seems self-evident that alternative physical and psychological explanations need to be satisfactorily eliminated as possible contributing factors to the derived IBQ profiles (e.g., degree of somatic preoccupation, etc.…”

New dimensions of abnormal illness behaviour derived from the Illness Behaviour Questionnaire

“…Third, despite the existence of Form B of the IBQ, there has been minimal exploration of what AIB might represent for members of the general community (Boyle & Le De´an, 2000;Currie, Potts, Donovan, & Blackwood, 1999;Zonderman et al, 1985). An illustrative study is that by Boyle and Le De´an (2000) who compared the IBQ responses of university students, adult members of the general community and individuals receiving outpatient psychological care, with the latter sample obtaining significantly higher scores than the other two groups only for disease Conviction, Affective Disturbance and Irritability.…”

“…An illustrative study is that by Boyle and Le De´an (2000) who compared the IBQ responses of university students, adult members of the general community and individuals receiving outpatient psychological care, with the latter sample obtaining significantly higher scores than the other two groups only for disease Conviction, Affective Disturbance and Irritability. Given interindividual differences in illness experience and exposure to illness information, there is likely variability in the way individuals from the general community are predisposed to respond to illness, including the potential for AIB.…”