TY - JOUR PY - 2018// TI - Development of the Injury Perceptions Questionnaire (InjPQ) JO - Psychology and Health A1 - Heruti, Irit A1 - Levy, Sigal A1 - Avitsur, Ronit A1 - Deutscher, Daniel A1 - Gutvirtz, Moshe A1 - Berkovitz, Tamar A1 - Shiloh, Shoshana SP - 614 EP - 633 VL - 33 IS - 5 N2 - OBJECTIVES: Injuries are major causes of morbidity and mortality in the population. Given the central role of perceptions in self-regulation of health conditions, it is important to investigate how they are perceived. This article describes the development of the Injury Perceptions Questionnaire (InjPQ).

METHODS: A concurrent study in a diverse sample of injured individuals (n = 333). The internal structure and the reliability (Cronbach's α) of InjPQ sub-scales were explored by factor analyses. Relationships between injury perception dimensions and equivalent illness perception scales and outcome measures (self-assessed health; physical, emotional and social functioning; depression, anxiety and somatisation; satisfaction with life) were investigated.

RESULTS: The InjPQ was found to represent the following perception scales: injury identity composed of social and body part components, PTSD symptoms, Injury event, Injury specific emotions, Injured self-image, Positive consequences, Responsibility/guilt, Coping, Time distance, Dependency, Healthy self, External attributions and Injury risk factors. The reliability and construct validity of the scales were found adequate.

CONCLUSIONS: Injury perceptions can be reliably measured. While partly overlapping with equivalent illness perception scales, the InjPQ depicts cognitive dimensions unique to injury that add significantly to explaining variance in outcomes. The InjPQ is recommended for research and clinical use as a measure of injury perceptions.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 0887-0446 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08870446.2017.1381957 ID - ref1 ER -