Good Psychometric Properties of the Addiction Version of the Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire for Health Care Professionals

Abstract

BackgroundAddiction, or substance dependence, is nowadays considered a chronic relapsing condition. However, perceptions of addiction vary widely, also among healthcare professionals. Perceptions of addiction are thought to contribute to attitude and stigma towards patients with addiction. However, studies into perceptions of addiction among healthcare professionals are limited and instruments for reliable assessment of their perceptions are lacking. The Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ) is widely used to evaluate perceptions of illness. The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the IPQ: factor structure, internal consistency, and discriminant validity, when applied to evaluate healthcare professionals’ perceptions of addiction.MethodsParticipants were 1072 healthcare professionals in training and master students from the Netherlands and Indonesia, recruited from various addiction-training programs. The revised version of the IPQ was adapted to measure perceptions of addiction (IPQ-A). Maximum likelihood method was used to explore the best-fit IPQ factor structure. Internal consistency was evaluated for the final factors. The final factor structure was used to assess discriminant validity of the IPQ, by comparing illness perceptions of addiction between 1) medical students from the Netherlands and Indonesia, 2) medical students psychology students and educational science students from the Netherlands, and 3) participants with different training levels: medical students versus medical doctors.ResultsFactor analysis revealed an eight-factor structure for the perception subscale (demoralization, timeline chronic, consequences, personal control, treatment control, illness coherence, timeline cyclical emotional representations) and a four-factor structure for the attribution subscale (psychological attributions, risk factors, smoking/alcohol, overwork). Internal reliability was acceptable to good. The IPQ-A was able to detect differences in perceptions between healthcare professionals from different cultural and educational background and level of training.ConclusionsThe IPQ-A is a valid and reliable instrument to assess healthcare professionals’ perceptions of addiction.

Psychometric evaluation of the Chinese version of the revised illness perception questionnaire for breast cancer-related lymphedema

“…The factor structure of the IPQ‐R (BCRL) was supported after deletion of several poorly fitting items. A similar problem was also found in previous studies (Aberkane, ; Ashley et al., ; Ayu et al., ; Brzoska, Yilmazaslan, Sultanoglu, Sultanoglu, & Razum, ; Villalobos‐Galvis, Mafla, Burbano‐Trujillo, & Sanchez‐Figueroa, ), in which several misspecifications were identified and adjustments had to be made to achieve a good model fit. Meanwhile, the proposed factor structure of the IPQ‐R could not be confirmed by CFA in other previous studies (Chaboyer, Lee, Wallis, & Chien, ; Fan et al., ; Nicholls, Susan, & Foster, ), and even the EFA did not show any interpretable structure (Mo et al., ).…”

“…The factor structure of the IPQ-R (BCRL) was supported after deletion of several poorly fitting items. A similar problem was also found in previous studies (Aberkane, 2017;Ashley et al, 2013;Ayu et al, 2016;Brzoska, Yilmazaslan, Sultanoglu, Sultanoglu, & Razum, 2012;Villalobos-Galvis, Mafla, Burbano-Trujillo, & Sanchez-Figueroa, 2017), in which several misspecifications were identified and adjustments had to be made to achieve a good model fit.…”

“…Actually, causal items have been treated differently in previous studies. Some studies (Aberkane, ; Abubakari et al., ; Ayu et al., ; Chilcot, Norton, Wellsted, & Farrington, ; Moon et al., ; Yan et al., ) employed our approach, while others modified this subscale without evaluating its structure (Brzoska et al., ; Chaboyer et al., ; Ghio et al., ), and still others conducted PCA to explore causal factors and then evaluated the subscale using CFA in the same data (Abubakari et al., ; Hagger & Orbell, ), and one study (Chen et al., ) employed CFA to examine the factorial structure of the subscale after modifying these causal items according to the aetiology of hypertension. One possible explanation for the large inconsistency in methodology was that researchers hold different views about the importance and the characteristics of this subscale.…”

“…Indeed, some participants in this study reported that the questionnaire was too long and considered some items redundant. A pragmatic solution to this problem is urgently needed for the future use of the IPQ-R. (Aberkane, 2017;Abubakari et al, 2012;Ayu et al, 2016;Chilcot, Norton, Wellsted, & Farrington, 2012;Moon et al, 2017;Yan et al, 2011) employed our approach, while others modified this subscale without evaluating its structure (Brzoska et al, 2012;Chaboyer et al, 2012;Ghio et al, 2018), and still others conducted PCA to explore causal factors and then evaluated the subscale using CFA in the same data (Abubakari et al, 2012;Hagger & Orbell, 2005), and one study (Chen et al, 2008) . We therefore suggest more reasonable and in-depth explorations of this subscale in the future.…”

“…The IPQ-R was developed as a generic scale for use across different illness groups; therefore, its authors encourage the adaptation of this measure to suit different illnesses through revising the identity and causal subscales to reflect the frequent symptoms and risk factors associated with the particular condition (Moss-Morris et al, 2002). It has been used in studies among patients with a wide range of conditions and has shown good internal reliability and test-retest reliability, as well as sound discriminant, construct and predictive validity (Ayu, Dijkstra, Golbach, De, & Schellekens, 2016;Fan et al, 2017;Ghio et al, 2018;Moon et al, 2017).…”