Background

The Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ-R) has been used extensively in the study of illness perceptions across different populations. Only few confirmatory factor analytic (CFA) studies of the questionnaire are available. This study examines the construct and discriminant validity of the Turkish IPQ-R in patients with diabetes and cardiovascular disease focusing on the hypothesized seven dimensions of personal controllability, treatment controllability, timeline acute/chronic, timeline cyclical, coherence, consequences and emotional representations.

Methods

302 patients (60.6% women) with a medically confirmed diagnosis of diabetes or cardiovascular disease and a mean age of 53.9 years were recruited from out-patient clinics in Turkey and surveyed by means of standardized interviews. Direct maximum likelihood confirmatory factor analysis was conducted.

Results

Several areas of ill-fit were identified in the original measurement model of the IPQ-R. Four items (items 17, 19, 20, and 31) were deleted because of poor factor loadings. Also, two error covariances (between items 33 and 34 and between items 7 and 8) were added and item 6 respecified to obtain a good model fit. The modified 34-item model showed good reliability and discriminant validity.

Conclusion

In accordance with studies on other language adaptations of the questionnaire, we identified certain items of the IPQ-R as potential sources of poor model fit. Their inclusion should be reconsidered in future applications of the questionnaire and researchers should examine whether our reduced set of items is stable across different populations. Our modified 34-item model showed a good reliability and discriminant validity and hence could be a valuable instrument in the assessment of illness perceptions in the Turkish health care setting, provided that the model is confirmed in subsequent research.