The DOI matches its Crossref record; 44 of the 44 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The Cardiac Anxiety Questionnaire: development and preliminary validity
Abstract
Heart-focused anxiety (HFA) is the fear of cardiac-related stimuli and sensations because of their perceived negative consequences. Although HFA is common to a wide variety of persons who experience chest pain and distress, it often is unrecognized and misdiagnosed, particularly in cardiology and emergency room patients without and with heart disease. To address these concerns, this article reports on the development and preliminary psychometric evaluation of the Cardiac Anxiety Questionnaire (CAQ) designed to measure HFA. In Study 1, 188 cardiology patients completed the CAQ. Item and factor analyses indicated a three-factor solution pertaining to heart-related fear, avoidance, and attention. Reliability analysis of the 18-item CAQ revealed good internal consistency of the total and subscale scores. In Study 2, 42 patients completed the CAQ and several other anxiety-related questionnaires to assess its convergent and divergent properties. Although preliminary validity results are promising, further psychometric study is necessary to cross-validate the CAQ, examine its test-retest reliability, and confirm the stability of the factor structure. Taken together, the CAQ appears to assess HFA, and may therefore be a useful instrument for identifying patients with elevated HFA without and with heart disease.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“CAQ has shown reliability and validity among cardiac patients [25].”
In the citing paper
“The CAQ measures heart-focused anxiety, as this may be a more specific form of anxiety relevant to heart patients (Eifert et al., 2000;van Beek et al., 2012).”
From Postponement of elective cardiac surgery: A prospective observational analysis of anxiety, depression, social support and clinical complications. (2023) · cites this paper as Eifert et al., 2000
Citations
Cites
The Scree Test For The Number Of Factors
Cattell, R. B. (1966) · Multivariate Behavioral Research · doi:10.1207/s15327906mbr0102_10 · Cited by 13,554
Factor analysis in the development and refinement of clinical assessment instruments.
Floyd, F. J., & Widaman, K. F. (1995) · Psychological Assessment · doi:10.1037/1040-3590.7.3.286 · Cited by 3,970
Anxiety, sensitivity, anxiety frequency, and the prediction of fearfulness
Reiss, S., Peterson, R. A., Gursky, D. M., & McNally, R. J. (1986) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/0005-7967(86)90143-9 · Cited by 3,169
A brief version of the Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale
Leary, M. R. (1983) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167283093007 · Cited by 2,178
Theoretical Issues in Behavior Therapy
Reiss, S., & Bootzin, R. R. (1985) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 1,461
Chambless, D. L., Caputo, G. C., Bright, P., & Gallagher, R. (1984) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-006x.52.6.1090 · Cited by 1,247
Factor-analytic methods of scale development in personality and clinical psychology
Comrey, A. L. (1988) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-006x.56.5.754 · Cited by 1,154
Psychological Testing: History, Principles, and Applications
Gregory, R. J. (1991) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 944
Reiss, S. (1985) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 912
Fuster, V., Alexander, R. W., & O’Rourke, R. A. (1966) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 705
Research works printed but not linked: 3
- Eifert, G. H., Zvolensky, M. J., & Lejuez, C. W. (in press). Cardiophobia: a dimensional approach to heart-focused anxiety and illness fear. In G. J. G. Asmundson, S. Taylor & B. Cox, Health anxiety: clinical reserch perspectives on hypochondriasis and related disorders. New York: Wiley.
- Frasure-Smith, 1995, The impact of negative emotions on prognosis following myocardial infarction, Health Psychology, 14, 388, 10.1037/0278-6133.14.5.388 · DOI
- Trelawny-Ross, 1987, Social and psychological responses to myocardial infarction: multiple determinants of outcome at six months, Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 31, 125, 10.1016/0022-3999(87)90107-3 · DOI
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 301–348 of 348
Psychosoziale Determinanten der Therapieadhärenz bei Patienten mit arteriellem Hypertonus
Lowin, E. (2018) · eDiss (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen) · doi:10.53846/goediss-6984
Ansiedade cardíaca: uma análise em ambulatórios cardiológicos subespecializados
Maciel, P. H. A., Silva, R. P., Sobrinho, C. R. G., Sa, A., Pontes, L., & dos Santos, B. F. (2019) · Revista de Medicina da UFC · doi:10.20513/2447-6595.2019v59n1p9-15
“Miocardiopatia 27 (11,3) 12 15 55,6 (12,6) 43,6 (14,6)”
PREDICTING HEALTH RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE IN INDONESIAN POST MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION PATIENTS
Wulandari, D., Ginanjar, A. S., Purwono, U., Baydhowi, B., & Purba, F. D. (2019) · Journal of Educational Health and Community Psychology · doi:10.12928/jehcp.v8i3.13377
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in the Treatment of Anxiety Disorders
Lorenzo, G. D., Jannini, T. B., Longo, L., Rossi, R., Siracusano, A., & Dell’Osso, B. M. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-43356-7_13
Hamang, A. (2012) · NORA - Norwegian Open Research Archives
Molotkovė, G., & Raškelienė, V. (2020) · Lithuanian University of Health Sciences
Cheung, W. Y. V. (2021) · IRL - University of Missouri, St. Louis (University of Missouri–St. Louis)
Sears, S. F., Huber, N. L., Nekkanti, R., Hammerle, C., Sadaf, M. I., Gehi, A., McKillop, M., Conti, J., Gunderson, B., & Burch, A. E. (2022) · Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation and Prevention · doi:10.1097/hcr.0000000000000671
Evaluation of Cardiac Anxiety in Nurses During Covid-19 Pandemic
Akhan, O. (2022) · Lokman Hekim Health Sciences · doi:10.14744/lhhs.2022.12002
Jansen, K. L., Fortenberry, K. T., & Clark, M. S. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-39903-0_938
Whited, A. L., Sears, S. F., Cahill, J., & Chelu, M. G. (2016) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-981-287-206-7_25
Llerena, R. A. P., & Huisa, N. N. (2022) · Universidad Científica del Sur · doi:10.21142/tl.2022.2377
O PAPEL DA FISIOTERAPIA CARDIOVASCULAR NA ATENÇÃO PRIMÁRIA À SAÚDE
de Souza, C. G., de Almeida, I. L. G. I., Silva, K. L. S., Vitorino, D. F. D. M., & Costa, H. S. (2022) · Editora Omnis Scietia eBooks · doi:10.47094/978-65-5854-764-8/178-194
Intervention und Follow-Up nach hypertensiver Entgleisung
Renneberg, S. D. (2022) · eDiss (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen) · doi:10.53846/goediss-9464
The Essential Impact of Counseling in Improvement of Quality of Life in ACHD Patients
Russo, M. G., Marco, M. D., Merola, A., & Sarubbi, B. (2022) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-07598-8_19
Kazitani, B. S., Martins, L. M., da Silva, V. M., Fernandes, P., Maier, S. R. D. O., & Dessotte, C. A. M. (2023) · Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem · doi:10.1590/0034-7167-2022-0250pt
อินทร์อยู่, อ. (2020) · Chula Digiverse · doi:10.58837/chula.the.2020.899
Risk factors for depresion and anxiety in the patient with aortic valve stenosis
Martínez, E. (2023) · Mexican Journal of Medical Research ICSA · doi:10.29057/mjmr.v11i22.10628
Study on the influencing factors of postpartum quality of life in women with heart diseasePreprint
liu, J., wang, Q., & Qu, D. (2023) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-3134776/v1
Larki, K. N., Mohammadi, T., Zakerimoghadam, M., & Sayadi, L. (2023) · The journal of Tehran Heart Center · doi:10.18502/jthc.v18i4.14826
Eriksson‐Liebon, M. (2024) · Linköping University medical dissertations · doi:10.3384/9789180755597
李, 金. (2024) · Journal of Clinical Personalized Medicine · doi:10.12677/jcpm.2024.33177
Johnsson, A., Ljótsson, B., Braunschweig, F., Mellbin, L., & Särnholm, J. (2025) · medRxiv · doi:10.1101/2025.06.11.25329458
Nilsson, S., Gabro, F., Stertman, E., Bernfort, L., Fredrikson, M., Henriksson, P., Johansson, P., Kastbom, L., Köhler, A. K., Lööf, J., et al. (2025) · Trials · doi:10.1186/s13063-025-08911-w
“• Heart-focused anxiety will be measured by the Cardiac Anxiety Questionnaire (CAQ) (27).”
Cognitive behavioural therapy for non-cardiac chest pain
Brown, S. L. (2013) · ERA
Post-Earthquake Cardiac Anxiety In The Elderly
KARATAŞ, G., & Tosun, N. (2026) · Anatolian Journal of Emergency Medicine · doi:10.54996/anatolianjem.1745621
Interoceptive NeuroEmpowerment Scale: a trauma-informed measure of adaptive state ownership
Truitt, K., Walsh, M., & Dalton, M. R. (2026) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2026.1748573
“More recent instruments—the Interoceptive Accuracy Scale (Murphy et al., 2020) and the Cardiac Awareness Questionnaire (Eifert et al., 2000)—target perceived precision and metacognitive confidence, while the Respiratory Interoceptive Attention Task assesses respiratory awareness (Harrison et al.,…”
Konuk, S., ÖZEL, A., Ugras, U. A., Özdede, E. A., Uçaroğlu, E. R., & Karaarslan, T. (2026) · Northwestern Medical Journal · doi:10.54307/2026.nwmj.192
“The Cardiac Anxiety Questionnaire (CAQ) is a self-report instrument developed by Eifert et al. to evaluate heart-related fear, attention to symptoms, and avoidance behaviors (11).”
Lin, H., Sun, Q., Yao, W., Yuan, C., Xing, Q.-R., Sun, T., Chen, Q., 杜蕾, & Zhu, Y. (2026) · BMC Cardiovascular Disorders · doi:10.1186/s12872-026-05825-6
ANXIETY AND FEAR OF DEATH IN ACUTE CORONARY SYNDROME (ACS)
Źródłowski, K., Korżel, A., Przybył, B. K., Kobrzyńska, P. A., Cegielska, N., Mogilany, J., Niedźwiecka, J., Wojna, E. R., Górowska, K., & Ragan, G. (2026) · International Journal of Innovative Technologies in Social Science · doi:10.31435/ijitss.1(49).2026.4827
Stallings, T. L., Martin, C., Nekkanti, R., & Sears, S. F. (2026) · HeartRhythm Case Reports · doi:10.1016/j.hrcr.2026.06.006
Maukel, L., Boivin‐Proulx, L., Saw, J., Madan, M., Liu, S., Coutinho, T. A., Mulvagh, S. L., Pacheco, C., Bouchard, K., Reed, J., et al. (2026) · JACC Advances · doi:10.1016/j.jacadv.2026.102814
Hahad, O., Kerahrodi, J. G., Pasha, L. I., Molitor, M., Michal, M., Tesarz, J., Lurz, P. C., & Lurz, J. (2026) · Herz · doi:10.1007/s00059-026-05382-w
Sargeant, M., Li, M., Harrell, C., Uzunoglu, E. C., Mullane, S., Miller, C., Shantha, G., & Sears, S. F. (2026) · Journal of behavioral medicine · doi:10.1007/s10865-026-00690-2
“…context, as anxiety is common in cardiovascular populations and may increase vigilance toward bodily sensations, distress in response to ambiguous cues, and the likelihood that sensations are interpreted as threatening (Celano et al., 2016; Eifert et al., 2000; Du et al., 2023; Sears et al., 2005).”
Tanzmeister, S., Harringer, L., Vogel, L. L., & Schienle, A. (2026) · Journal of Psychosomatic Research · doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2026.112929
Park, H.-C., & Oh, J. J. (2026) · Medicine · doi:10.1097/md.0000000000050147
“Anxiety was assessed using the CAQ, which was originally developed by Eifert [25] and later translated into Korean by Shin et al. [26] This instrument comprises 18 items organized into three sub-domains: eight items in the fear domain, five items in the attention domain, and five items in the…”
Hill, S., Caffyn, K., & Scott, S. (2026) · Clinical Case Reports · doi:10.1002/ccr3.73293
“Secondly, although the CAQ and SHAI are validated for cardiac patients [7, 24–25], they may not capture the complexities of ACHD patients' lifelong health experiences.”
Qin, J., Li, J., Zhou, Y., Yu, P., Wang, X., Pan, X., & Gong, K. (2026) · European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing · doi:10.1093/eurjcn/zvag180
Zhao, S., Liu, Y., Ju, Y., & Lu, M. (2026) · Journal of Psychosomatic Research · doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2026.112971
Interoception as a Mechanism Linking Anxiety, Cardiovascular Disease, and their Co-Occurrence
Keller, B. L., & Farris, S. G. (2026) · Current Cardiology Reports · doi:10.1007/s11886-026-02421-0
“However, excessive vigilance (i.e., hypervigi-lance) to body sensations is maladaptive and shown to be linked with health-related anxiety [14], including cardiac anxiety [15, 16], and therefore might also be maladaptive for CVD management.”
OCD following a cardiac event: A single-case experiment of CBT for an older adult
Hill, S., & Scott, S. (2026) · FPOP Bulletin Psychology of Older People · doi:10.53841/bpsfpop.2026.1.176.74
Άγχος για την καρδιακή λειτουργία και επιθετικότητα στην κρίση πανικού
Δραγκιώτη, Ε., Δαμίγος, Δ., Mαυρέας, Β., & Γκούβα, Μ. (2010) · Διεπιστημονική φροντίδα υγείας
Metadata
- Authors
- Eifert, G. H., Thompson, R. N., Zvolensky, M. J., Edwards, K., Frazer, N. L., Haddad, J. W., & Davig, J.
- Affiliations
- West Virginia University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Eifert, Georg H
- Venue
- Behaviour Research and Therapy
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2000-10
- Volume
- 38
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 1039-1053
- ISSN
- 0005-7967 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2015235226
- Cited by
- 349
- References
- 44
- Citations by year
- 2026: 24 · 2025: 28 · 2024: 25 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 43 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 27 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 15 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 12
- FWCI
- 4.33
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Behaviour Research and Therapy (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Cardiac Health and Mental Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
- Keywords
- psychometric development, questionnaire validation, avoidance, attention, chest pain, cardiac patients, anxiety assessment, factor structure
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review