Factor analysis of the Korean version of the Illness Cognition Questionnaire for adolescents with chronic illness

Psychometric properties of the Malay version of the Illness Cognition Questionnaire among cancer patients in Malaysia

OBJECTIVE

The Illness Cognition Questionnaire (ICQ) was translated from its original English version to the Malay version for this research, adapted the Malay language version of the ICQ (ICQ-M) for use in cancer patients, and assessed the internal consistency, content, face, construct, convergent, discriminant and concurrent validity of the ICQ-M among a cohort of cancer patients with mixed cancer types in Malaysia.

METHOD

Initially, the ICQ was translated into Malay and back-translated, and its content and face validity were evaluated. Then, 346 cancer patients with various cancer types received the ICQ-M, and its internal consistency, convergent, discriminant, construct, and concurrent validity were evaluated.

RESULTS

The ICQ-M and its domains had acceptable internal consistency with Cronbach's α ranging from 0.742 to 0.927. Construct validity assessment demonstrated that the ICQ-M consists of 17 items designated in two domains with good convergent and discriminant validity. The ICQ-M and its domains also had moderate correlations with the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire II, which denotes that the ICQ-M had acceptable concurrent validity.

CONCLUSION

The ICQ-M had good psychometric properties and is now available to measure the illness cognition of cancer patients in Malaysia.

Factor analysis of the Korean version of the Illness Cognition Questionnaire for adolescents with chronic illness

Aim

The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of the Korean version of the Illness Cognition Questionnaire.

Methods

A total of 237 adolescent Participants ages 13–20 years were collected from two hospitals for purposes of the study. The participants were diagnosed with blood cancer, congenital heart disease, paediatric rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and diabetes mellitus.

Results

The Illness Cognition Questionnaire is composed of three subscales and 18 items. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were performed for all 18 items. The data used in the exploratory factor analysis were obtained from 126 adolescents with blood cancer. The data used for confirmatory factor analysis were obtained from 111 adolescents who had chronic diseases. The three‐factor model of 18 items showed general fitness close to the standard but not a very good fit.

Conclusions

This study indicated that the Korean version of the Illness Cognition Questionnaire is reasonable to use for Korean adolescents with chronic illness. The authors recommend that the meaning of Item 10 be clarified from ‘I have learned to accept the limitations imposed by my illness’ to ‘I have learned to positively accept the limitations imposed by my illness’.

What is already known about this topic?

Illness cognition is the process of evaluating the meaning of a negative event.

Illness cognition has a significant impact on patients' quality of life because it is inherently involved in long‐term stresses caused by chronic or serious illnesses.

What this paper adds?

The Korean version of the Illness Cognition Questionnaire is reliable and valid.

The Korean version of Illness Cognition Questionnaire consisted of three categories of disease awareness: acceptance, helplessness and perceived benefits

The meaning of Item 10 in the Illness Cognition Questionnaire Korean version needs to be clarified as ‘I have learned to positively accept the limitations imposed by my illness’.

The implications of this paper:

The Korean version of the Illness Cognition Questionnaire can be used for adolescent participants experiencing serious or chronic illnesses.

The Korean version of the Illness Cognition Questionnaire can be used in developing the psychological intervention for adolescents with chronic illness.