Illness Expectations Assessment in People with Asthma: A Tool for Explicit and Implicit Beliefs

Figures & data

Table 1 The Illness Expectation – Implicit Association Test (IE-IAT) Structure

IE-IAT			Response Key Assignment
Block	No. of Trials	Task	Left Key	Right Key
1	20	Target discrimination	Asthma worsening	Asthma improving
2	20	Attribute discrimination	Other	Me
3	20	First block of first combined task	Asthma worsening, Others	Asthma improving, Me
4	40	Second block of first combined task	Asthma worsening, Others	Asthma improving, Me
5	40	Reversed target discrimination	Me	Others
6	20	First block of second combined task	Asthma worsening, Me	Asthma improving, Others
7	40	Second block of second combined task	Asthma worsening, Me	Asthma improving, Others

Table 2 Characteristics of the Study Sample

	Participants Recruited at FDG (n=62)	Participants Recruited Through the Associations’ Network (n=105)	All Participants (n=167)
Gender, n (%)
Male	21 (33.9)	37 (36.6)	61 (36.5)
Female	41 (66.1)	64 (33.6)	106 (63.5)
Marital Status, n (%)
Married	37 (59.7)	52 (51.4)	90 (53.9)
Divorced	1 (1.6)	10 (9.9)	11 (6.6)
Separated	4 (6.4)	2 (1.9)	7 (4.2)
Single	11 (17.7)	23 (22.7)	35 (21)
Widower	4 (6.4)	2 (1.9)	6 (3.6)
Other	5 (8.06)	12 (11.8)	18 (10.8)
Age mean (SD)	54.7 (16.7)	45.4 (17)	48.9 (17.3)
Age first symptoms (SD)	33.3 (22.3)	21.7 (19.3)	25.6 (21)
Profession, n(%)
Employee	27 (43.5)	53 (52.5)	82 (49.7)
Freelance	4 (6.4)	10 (9.9)	15 (9.1)
Unemployed	2 (3.2)	3 (2.9)	5 (3)
Student	2 (3.2)	9 (8.9)	11 (16.5)
Retired	18 (17.8)	17 (16.8)	35 (21.2)
Other	7 (11.2)	9 (8.9)	17 (10.3)
Spirometry
FVC (SD)	3.45 (1.11)
FVC% (SD)	92.4 (16.2)
FEV1 (SD)	2.68 (0.93)
FEV1% (SD)	90.2 (19.3)
Tiffeneau–Pinelli  Index % (SD)	95.8 (10.2)

Abbreviations: FEV₁, forced expiratory volume in 1 second; FVC, forced vital capacity.

Table 3 Item Saturation and Factorial Structure

		Component
		1	2	3
1.	In the next three months, I expect that the symptoms of asthma …	0.714	0.215	−.071
2.	Compared to this period, I expect the symptoms of asthma in the next three months …	0.612	0.488	0.065
3.	In general, I expect my health to be in the next three months …	0.707	0.306	−.018
4.	Compared to today, I expect my health in the next three months …	0.682	0.422	0.025
5.	I expect that in three months the treatment I am doing will be …	0.503	0.105	−.258
6.	As for the “good days”, I expect …	0.442	0.287	0.032
7.	In the next three months, I expect the presence of a cough …	0.721	0.195	−.141
8.	In the next three months, I expect the presence of phlegm …	0.704	0.196	−.25
9.	In the next three months, I expect a sense of constriction in the chest …	0.817	0.181	−.061
10.	In the next three months, I expect the quality of sleep …	0.661	0.27	0.009
11.	In the next three months, I expect difficulty in breathing …	0.799	0.321	−.006
12.	In the next three months, I expect the presence of whistles and hisses in the breath …	0.803	0.173	−.102
13.	In the next three months, I expect the presence of respiratory attacks …	0.811	0.115	−.092
14.	In the next three months, I expect episodes of rhinitis …	0.477	0.306	−.211
15.	Compared to today, I expect that cough in the next three months …	0.378	0.847	−.094
16.	Compared to today, I expect that in the next three months the phlegm …	0.278	0.867	−.118
17.	Compared to today, I expect that in the next three months the sense of constriction in the chest …	0.361	0.834	−.077
18.	Compared to today, I expect that in the next three months the quality of sleep …	0.292	0.875	−.047
19.	Compared to today, I expect that in the next three months the difficulty in breathing …	0.258	0.892	−.005
20.	Compared to today, I expect that in the next three months the presence of whistles and hisses in my breath …	0.227	0.913	−.005
21.	Compared to today, I expect the presence of respiratory attacks in the next three months …	0.298	0.872	−.054
22.	Compared to today, I expect episodes of rhinitis in the next three months …	0.138	0.886	−.04
23.	In general, I change my mind easily	−.012	−.056	0.672
24.	How sure I am of the answers I gave in the previous answers?	−.298	−.076	0.738
25.	If I had to bet money on the fact that my predictions will come true, I would bet …	−.04	0.011	0.736

Note: Items attributed to each factor are bolded.

Table 4 Inter-Factor and IE-IAT Correlations

		Absolute Expectations	Improvement/Worsening	Rigidity	IAT (d) Score
Absolute expectations	Pearson Correlation	1	0.639**	−.235**	−.214*
	Sig. (2-tailed)		<0.001	0.003	0.038
	N	162	162	159	94
Improvement/worsening	Pearson Correlation	0.639**	1	−.115	−.250*
	Sig. (2-tailed)	<0.001		0.149	0.015
	N	162	162	159	94
Rigidity	Pearson Correlation	−.235**	−.115	1	0.031
	Sig. (2-tailed)	0.003	0.149		0.767
	N	159	159	159	94
IAT (D) score	Pearson Correlation	−.214*	−.250*	0.031	1
	Sig. (2-tailed)	0.038	0.015	0.767
	N	94	94	94	94

Notes: *p<0.05; **p<0.01.

Table 5 Convergent Validity of the Scales

		Absolute Expectations	Improvement/Worsening	Rigidity	IAT (d) Score
FVC%	Pearson Correlation	−.069	−.337**	0.042	−.084
	Sig. (2-tailed)	0.606	0.009	0.753	0.568
	N	59	59	59	49
FEV%	Pearson Correlation	0.108	−.094	0.017	−.093
	Sig. (2-tailed)	0.41	0.476	0.9	0.52
	N	60	60	60	50
ACT	Pearson Correlation	−.211**	−.048	−.031	0.221*
	Sig. (2-tailed)	0.008	0.557	0.699	0.032
	N	155	155	155	94
BIPQ	Pearson Correlation	0.552**	0.310**	−.263**	−.221*
	Sig. (2-tailed)	<0.001	<0.001	0.001	0.032
	N	158	158	158	94
ICQ-H	Pearson Correlation	0.510**	0.322**	−.213**	−.315**
	Sig. (2-tailed)	<0.001	<0.001	0.007	0.002
	N	157	157	157	94
ICQ-A	Pearson Correlation	−.451**	−.202*	0.466**	0.187
	Sig. (2-tailed)	<0.001	0.011	<0.001	0.072
	N	158	158	158	94
ICQ-PB	Pearson Correlation	0.005	−.181*	0.164*	−.008
	Sig. (2-tailed)	0.949	0.025	0.042	0.938
	N	154	154	154	93

Notes: *p<0.05; **p<0.01.

Abbreviations: ACT, Asthma Control Test; BIPQ, Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire; ICQ-H, Illness Cognition Questionnaire Helplessness; ICQ-A, Illness Cognition Questionnaire Acceptance; ICQ-PB, Illness Cognition Questionnaire Perceived Benefits.