nach oben

Cognitive Therapy and Research

Erschienen in:

01.06.2012 | Original Article

Psychological Predictors of Anxiety in Response to the H1N1 (Swine Flu) Pandemic

verfasst von: Michael G. Wheaton, Jonathan S. Abramowitz, Noah C. Berman, Laura E. Fabricant, Bunmi O. Olatunji

Erschienen in: Cognitive Therapy and Research | Ausgabe 3/2012

Einloggen, um Zugang zu erhalten

Abstract

Pandemic illnesses, such as the H1N1 influenza (swine flu) are often highly publicized in the mass media and can be associated with high levels of anxiety and compensatory behavior (e.g., using hand sanitizers). The present research sought to investigate the psychological processes associated with swine-flu related anxiety during the H1N1 influenza pandemic of 2009–2010. Participants were 315 college students who completed survey measures between September 25th 2009 and February 16th 2010, which encompassed the peak of flu season and a time of intense media attention to this particular outbreak. Data revealed that anxiety in response to the swine flu was common in the sample. Regression analysis indicated that health anxiety, contamination fears and disgust sensitivity were significant predictors of swine flu-related anxiety. Implications for how concerns over pandemic illnesses such as the swine flu can be conceptualized and clinically managed are discussed.

In order to test the dimensionality of the SFI we submitted the nine retained items to a principal axis factor analysis with oblique (promax) rotation to allow the factors to be correlated. The first three eigenvalues from this analysis were 4.16, 1.44 and 0.77 and examination of the scree plot suggested retaining a two-factor solution. In the promax-rotated solution, five items (# 1, 7–10) saliently loaded on the first factor, three items (#3–5) saliently loaded on the second factor and one item (#2) loaded on both factors. The factors were correlated (r = .55). Importantly, the statements in three items saliently loading on the second factor all began with the question “how” while all of the other items began differently, indicating that question wording may have influenced the separation of these items from the others (e.g., a method factor). Recommendations for factor analysis have suggested that factors defined by three or fewer items may be less reliable and replicable, and four or more items are generally recommended to retain a factor (Guadagnoli and Velicer 1988). As such we opted to consider the SFI as a unidimensional measure and used the total score in all analyses.

Abramowitz, J. S., & Braddock, A. E. (2008). Psychological treatment of hypochondriasis and health anxiety: A biopsychosocial approach. Cambridge, MA: Hogrefe & Huber.

Abramowitz, J. S., Deacon, B., Olatunji, B., Wheaton, M. G., Berman, N., Losardo, D., et al. (2010). Assessment of obsessive-compulsive symptom dimensions: Development and evaluation of the Dimensional Obsessive-Compulsive Scale. Psychological Assessment, 22, 180–198.PubMedCrossRef

Abramowitz, J. S., Deacon, B. J., & Valentiner, D. P. (2007). The Short Health Anxiety Inventory: Psychometric properties and construct validity in a non-clinical sample. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 31, 871–883.CrossRef

American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (Vol. 4 text revision). Washington, DC: Author.

Antony, M. M., Bieling, P. J., Cox, B. J., Enns, M. W., & Swinson, R. P. (1998). Psychometric properties of the 42-item and 21-item versions of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) in clinical groups and a community sample. Psychological Assessment, 10, 176–181.CrossRef

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2010, June 16). The 2009 H1N1 Pandemic: Summary Highlights, April 2009–April 2010. Retrieved from: http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/cdcresponse.htm.

Chan, M. (2009). World now at the start of 2009 influenza pandemic. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2009/h1n1_pandemic_phase6_20090611/en/index.html.

Coles, M. E., Cook, L. M., & Blake, T. R. (2006). Assessing obsessive compulsive symptoms and cognitions on the internet: Evidence for the comparability of paper and Internet administration. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 45, 2232–2240.CrossRef

Cox, B., Borger, S., & Enns, M. (1999). Anxiety sensitivity and emotional disorders: Psychometric studies and their theoretical implications. In S. Taylor (Ed.), Anxiety sensitivity: Theory, research, and treatment of the fear of anxiety (pp. 115–148). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Daubs, K. (2009, October 27). H1N1 clinics to open early in wake of teen’s death. Retrieved from http://www.healthzone.ca/health/newsfeatures/swineflu/article/716657–teen-treated-for-flu-symptoms-before-death?bn=1.

Deacon, B., & Maack, D. J. (2008). The effects of safety behaviors on the fear of contamination: An experimental investigation. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 46, 537–547.PubMedCrossRef

Deacon, B., & Olatunji, B. O. (2007). Specificity of disgust sensitivity in the prediction of behavioral avoidance in contamination fear. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 45, 2110–2120.PubMedCrossRef

DeVellis, R. F. (1991). Scale development: Theory and applications. Newbury Park: Sage.

Guadagnoli, E., & Velicer, W. F. (1988). Relation of sample size to the stability of component patterns. Psychological Bulletin, 103, 265–275.PubMedCrossRef

Haidt, J., McCauley, C., & Rozin, P. (1994). Individual differences in sensitivity to disgust: A scale sampling seven domains of disgust elicitors. Personality and Individual Differences, 16, 701–713.CrossRef

Henry, J. D., & Crawford, J. R. (2005). The 21-item version of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS–21): Normative data and psychometric evaluation in a large non-clinical sample. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 44, 227–239.PubMedCrossRef

Izard, C. E. (1993). Organizational and motivational functions of discrete emotions. In M. Lewis & J. M. Haviland (Eds.), Handbook of emotions. New York: Guilford Press.

Johnson, N. P. A. S., & Mueller, J. (2002). Updating the accounts: Global Mortality of the 1918–1920 “Spanish” influenza pandemic. Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 76, 105–115.PubMedCrossRef

Lacey, M. & Jacobs, A. (2009, May 4). Even as fears of flu ebb, Mexicans feel stigma. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/05/world/asia/05china.html.

Lovibond, S. H., & Lovibond, P. F. (1995). Manual for the depression anxiety stress scales. Sydney: Psychology Foundation.

Nunnally, J., & Bernstein, I. (1994). Psychometric theory. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Olatunji, B. O., Deacon, B. J., Abramowitz, J. S., & Valentiner, D. P. (2007a). Body vigilance in nonclinical and anxiety disorder samples: Structure, correlates, and prediction of health concerns. Behavior Therapy, 38, 392–401.PubMedCrossRef

Olatunji, B. O., & Sawchuk, C. N. (2005). Disgust: Characteristic features, social implications, and clinical manifestations. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 24, 932–962.CrossRef

Olatunji, B. O., Sawchuk, C. N., Lohr, J. M., & de Jong, P. J. (2004). Disgust domains in the prediction of contamination fear. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 42, 93–104.PubMedCrossRef

Olatunji, B. O., Williams, N. L., Tolin, D. F., Sawchuck, C. N., Abramowitz, J. S., Lohr, J. M., et al. (2007b). The Disgust Scale: Item analysis, factor structure, and suggestions for refinement. Psychological Assessment, 19, 281–297.PubMedCrossRef

Page, A. C., Hooke, G. R., & Morrison, D. L. (2007). Psychometric properties of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) in depressed clinical samples. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 46, 283–297.PubMedCrossRef

Rachman, S. (2004). Fear of contamination. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 42, 1227–1255.PubMedCrossRef

Reiss, S., Peterson, R., Gursky, D. M., & McNally, R. J. (1986). Anxiety sensitivity, anxiety frequency, and the prediction of fearfulness. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 24, 1–8.PubMedCrossRef

Rubin, G. J., Amlot, R., Page, L., & Wessely, S. (2009). Public perceptions, anxiety, and behaviour change in relation to the swine flu outbreak: Cross sectional telephone survey. BMJ, 339, b2651.PubMedCrossRef

Salkovskis, P. M., Rimes, K. A., Warwick, H. M., & Clark, D. M. (2002). The health anxiety inventory: Development and validation of scales for the measurement of health anxiety and hypochondriasis. Psychological Medicine, 32, 843–853.PubMedCrossRef

Sandman, P. M. (2009). Pandemics: Good hygiene is not enough. Nature, 459, 322–323.PubMedCrossRef

Schmidt, N. B., Lerew, D. R., & Trakowski, J. H. (1997). Body vigilance in panic disorder: Evaluating attention to bodily perturbations. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 65, 214–220.PubMedCrossRef

Taylor, S., & Asmundson, G. (2004). Treating health anxiety: A cognitive-behavioral approach. New York: Guilford.

Taylor, S., Zvolensky, M., Cox, B., Deacon, B., Heimberg, R., Ledley, D. R., et al. (2007). Robust dimensions of anxiety sensitivity: Development and initial validation of the Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3 (ASI-3). Psychological Assessment, 19, 176–188.PubMedCrossRef

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (2009, August 19). Back-to-School Fact Sheet. Retrieved from: http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/2790/107.

Van den Bulck, J., & Custers, K. (2009). Television exposure is related to fear of avian flu, an ecological study across 23 member states of the European Union. European Journal of Public Health, 19, 370–374.PubMedCrossRef

Wheaton, M. G., Berman, N. C., Franklin, J. C., & Abramowitz, J. S. (2010). Health anxiety: Latent structure and associations with anxiety-related psychological processes. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 32, 565–574.CrossRef

Titel: Psychological Predictors of Anxiety in Response to the H1N1 (Swine Flu) Pandemic
verfasst von: Michael G. Wheaton
Jonathan S. Abramowitz
Noah C. Berman
Laura E. Fabricant
Bunmi O. Olatunji
Publikationsdatum: 01.06.2012
Verlag: Springer US
Erschienen in: Cognitive Therapy and Research / Ausgabe 3/2012
Print ISSN: 0147-5916
Elektronische ISSN: 1573-2819
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-011-9353-3

Neu im Fachgebiet Psychiatrie

Demenzkranke durch Antipsychotika vielfach gefährdet

23.04.2024 Demenz Nachrichten

Wenn Demenzkranke aufgrund von Symptomen wie Agitation oder Aggressivität mit Antipsychotika behandelt werden, sind damit offenbar noch mehr Risiken verbunden als bislang angenommen.

Weniger postpartale Depressionen nach Esketamin-Einmalgabe

23.04.2024 Depression antepartal oder postpartal Nachrichten

Bislang gibt es kein Medikament zur Prävention von Wochenbettdepressionen. Das Injektionsanästhetikum Esketamin könnte womöglich diese Lücke füllen.

„Psychotherapie ist auch bei sehr alten Menschen hochwirksam!“

22.04.2024 DGIM 2024 Kongressbericht

Die Kombination aus Medikamenten und Psychotherapie gilt als effektivster Ansatz bei Depressionen. Das ist bei betagten Menschen nicht anders, trotz Besonderheiten.

Auf diese Krankheiten bei Geflüchteten sollten Sie vorbereitet sein

22.04.2024 DGIM 2024 Nachrichten

Um Menschen nach der Flucht aus einem Krisengebiet bestmöglich medizinisch betreuen zu können, ist es gut zu wissen, welche Erkrankungen im jeweiligen Herkunftsland häufig sind. Dabei hilft eine Internetseite der CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).

Update Psychiatrie

Bestellen Sie unseren Fach-Newsletter und bleiben Sie gut informiert.

Newsletter bestellen

Springer Medizin

Abstract

Bitte loggen Sie sich ein, um Zugang zu diesem Inhalt zu erhalten

Weitere Artikel der Ausgabe 3/2012

Disgust Propensity as a Predictor of Intrusive Cognitions Following a Distressing Film

Anxiety Sensitivity, Emotional Avoidance, and PTSD Symptom Severity Among Crack/Cocaine Dependent Patients in Residential Treatment

Psychometric Properties of a Behavioral Test of Contamination-Related Obsessive–Compulsive Symptoms

Negative Cognitive Style and Past History of Major Depressive Episodes in University Students

Erratum to: Repetitive Thought and Emotional Distress: Rumination and Worry as Prospective Predictors of Depressive and Anxious Symptomatology