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The Construct Validity of the Illness Cognition Questionnaire: The Robustness of the Three-factor Structure Across Patients with Chronic Pain and Chronic Fatigue

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An Erratum to this article was published on 13 November 2009

Abstract

Background

The Illness Cognition Questionnaire (ICQ; Evers et al., J Consult Clin Psychol, 69:1026-1036, 2001) assesses three ways of cognitively evaluating the stressful and aversive character of a chronic illness: helplessness, acceptance, and perceived benefits.

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the construct validity of the ICQ in individuals with chronic pain and patients with chronic fatigue.

Method

The ICQ was administered to 821 individuals with chronic pain and 295 patients with chronic fatigue. Confirmatory factor analyses were performed to assess the hypothesized three-factor structure, containing the factors “helplessness,” “acceptance,” and “perceived benefits.” A multigroup analysis was performed to investigate the stability of the factor structure in both groups.

Results

Results confirmed the three-factor structure in the two samples. The factor structure was invariant across individuals with chronic pain and chronic fatigue.

Conclusion

As the three-factor structure provided a good fit in both groups, we confirm the usefulness of the subscale scores in research and clinical practice.

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Acknowledgements

We want to thank the Belgian Pain League who coordinates several self-help groups for pain patients in Belgium, the National Association for patients with Fibromyalgia of the Netherlands (FES; Nationale Vereniging voor Fibromyalgie-patiënten “Eendrachtig-Sterk”), and the psychosomatic center of University Hospital Ghent for collection of the data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Experimental–Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Henri Dunantlaan 2, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Emelien Lauwerier, Geert Crombez, Stefaan Van Damme & Liesbet Goubert

  2. General Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium

    Dirk Vogelaers

  3. Department of Medical Psychology, University of Nijmegen, Nijmegen, the Netherlands

    Andrea W. M. Evers

Authors
  1. Emelien Lauwerier
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  2. Geert Crombez
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  3. Stefaan Van Damme
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  4. Liesbet Goubert
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  5. Dirk Vogelaers
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  6. Andrea W. M. Evers
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Geert Crombez.

Additional information

An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12529-009-9068-y

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Lauwerier, E., Crombez, G., Van Damme, S. et al. The Construct Validity of the Illness Cognition Questionnaire: The Robustness of the Three-factor Structure Across Patients with Chronic Pain and Chronic Fatigue. Int.J. Behav. Med. 17, 90–96 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-009-9059-z

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