The factor structure and reliability of the Illness Attitude Scales in a student and a patient sample

Crössmann, Alexander; Pauli, Paul

doi:10.1186/1471-244X-6-46

BMC Psychiatry

Table 1 Factor Loadings of IAS Items

From: The factor structure and reliability of the Illness Attitude Scales in a student and a patient sample

	Students				Patients
Item number and description	F1	F2	F3	F4	F1	F2
2. Are you worried that you may get a serious illness in the future?	0.76^a	0.17	0.20	0.27	0.79^a	0.12
3. Does the thought of a serious illness scare you?	0.72^a	0.24	0.09	0.21	0.81^a	0.03
4. If you have pain. do you worry about a serious illness?	0.68^a	0.02	0.33	0.28	0.78^a	0.02
16. Are you afraid that you may have cancer?	0.67^a	-0.09	0.21	0.29	0.54^a	0.27
15. Are you afraid that you may die soon?	0.63^a	-0.02	0.09	0.24	0.61^a	0.11
13. Are you afraid of news which reminds you of death?	0.57^a	0.05	-0.11	0.18	0.60^a	0.02
1. Do you worry about your health?	0.56^a	0.32	0.37	0.23	0.71^a	0.21
14. Does the thought of death scare you?	0.56^a	0.11	-0.17	0.15	0.57^a	-0.01
6. If a pain lasts a week or more, do you believe you have a serious illness?	0.51^a	0.04	0.32	0.25	0.75^a	0.17
23. How often do you see a doctor?	0.30	0.71^a	0.06	0.34	0.41	0.54
24. How many different caregivers have you seen in the past year?	0.23	0.69^a	0.15	0.30	0.05	0.63^a
25. How often have you been treated in the last year?	0.23	0.67^a	0.18	0.38	0.13	0.59^a
5. If a pain lasts for a week or more do you see a physician?	0.14	0.61^a	0.06	0.17	0.34	0.27
10. Do you... that you have a disease... but doctors have not diagnosed it?	0.28	-0.05	0.64^a	0.37	0.63^a	0.08
12. When your doctor tells you what was found, do you believe you have it?	0.34	-0.08	0.63^a	0.23	0.56^a	0.19
11. When your doctor says you have no disease, do you refuse to believe it?	0.13	0.06	0.47^a	0.31	0.36	-0.02
28. Do your bodily symptoms stop you from concentrating?	0.20	0.23	0.15	0.84^a	0.19	0.70^a
27. Do your bodily symptoms stop you from working?	0.07	0.21	0.12	0.77^a	0.08	0.61^a
29. Do your bodily symptoms stop you from enjoying yourself?	0.29	0.03	0.17	0.74^a	0.45	0.68^a
20. When you notice a Sensation.... do you find it difficult to think of...?	0.29	0.16	0.12	0.50^a	0.56^a	0.11
7. Do you avoid habits which may be harmful to you, such as smoking?	-0.19	0.42	0.33	-0.26	-0.01	-0.16
8. Do you avoid foods which may not be healthy?	-0.21	0.28	0.52^b	-0.16	0.07	-0.34
9. Do you examine your body to find whether there is something wrong?	0.14	0.41	0.55	0.16	0.52^a	-0.12
17. Are you afraid that you may have heart disease?	0.33	-0.24	0.21	0.22	0.31	-0.42
18. Are you afraid that you may have another serious illness?	0.57	-0.06	0.52	0.26	0.59^a	0.29
19. When you read or hear about an illness, do you get similar symptoms?	0.39	-0.13	0.39	0.29	0.49^a	0.03
21. When you feel a sensation in your body, do you worry about it?	0.45	0.23	0.35	0.52	0.75^a	-0.07

Factor 1: fear of illness and death; Factor 2: treatment experience; Factor 3: hypochondriacal beliefs; Factor 4: effect of symptoms
^a Loadings that can be explicitly assigned to a single factor (>.40 and difference to loadings on other factors >.15)
^b Despite its loading on the factor "hypochondriacal beliefs," item 8 is not assigned to it because of its negative impact on the reliability of the scale.

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ISSN: 1471-244X

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