Illness Attitude Scale Clinical Workflow

Introduction

The Illness Attitudes Scale (IAS) is a self-rated measure that consists of nine subscales designed to assess fears, attitudes and beliefs associated with hypochondriacal concerns and abnormal illness behaviour [1]. In the original list 9 subscales were distinguished. Subsequent validation studies lead to two subscales: disease anxiety and disease behavior [2,3]

The Illness Attitude Scale flow contains the Ilness Attitude Scale (IAS) questionnaire and associated calculation. After form submission, the Illness Attitude Scale calculation is executed automatically. It's easy to extend this flow with conditional logic based on the interpretation of the Illness Attitude Scale calculation.

Ilness Attitude Scale (IAS) questionnaire

Questions and Scoring

The IAS has 29 questions, most of them multiple choice questions scored from (0,4). The open ended questions are not used for the score calculation but can provide extra information for the health care professionals.

Click here to open the Dutch version of the IAS

Interpretation

A higher score represent more severe ilness attitudes.

References

[1] Kellner R. Somatization and hypochondriasis. New York , Praeger; 1986\
[2] Speckens AE, Spinhoven P, Sloekers PP, Bolk JH, van Hemert AM. A validation study of the Whitely Index, the Illness Attitude Scales, and the Somatosensory Amplification Scale in general medical and general practice patients. J Psychosom Res. 1996 Jan;40(1):95-104. doi: 10.1016/0022-3999(95)00561-7. PMID: 8730649.\
[3] Dammen T, Friis S, Ekeberg O. The Illness Attitude Scales in chest pain patients: a study of psychometric properties. J Psychosom Res. 1999 Apr;46(4):335-42. doi: 10.1016/s0022-3999(98)00127-5. PMID: 10340232.