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Cited by 314Psychosomatic Disorders and Their TreatmentsAnxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive ProcessesFibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Research

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 35 of the 38 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Screening for somatization and hypochondriasis in primary care and neurological in-patients

Fink, Per, Ewald, Henrik, Jensen, Jørgen, Sørensen, Lisbeth, Engberg, Marianne, Holm, Martin, Munk-Jørgensen, Povl·1999·Journal of Psychosomatic Research
DOI 10.1016/s0022-3999(98)00092-0
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Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the internal and external validity of the Whiteley Index as a screening instrument for somatization illness. A 14-item version of the Whiteley Index for hypochondriacal traits was given to 99 of 191 consecutive primary care patients, aged 18-65 years, and to 100 consecutive patients, aged 18-60 years, admitted for the first time to a neurological ward. The primary care sample was, in addition, interviewed by means of the SCAN (Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry) psychiatric interview. The GPs and the neurologists were asked to rate various characteristics of the patients that might indicate somatization. The internal validity of the Whiteley Index was tested by means of latent structure analysis. On this basis, a reduced seven-item scale (Whiteley-7 scale) and two subscales (i.e., an Illness Conviction and Illness Worrying scale, each with three items) were constructed. All three had a high internal validity fitting into the very restricted Rasch statistical model (p>0.05) and an acceptable transferability between most of the subpopulations investigated. In the primary care population, the Whiteley-7 and the Illness Conviction scales at cut-point 0/1 showed 1.00 and 0.87 sensitivity and 0.65 and 0.87 specificity, respectively, using as "gold standard" the fulfillment of criteria for at least one ICD-10 somatoform disorder, and 0.71 and 0.63 sensitivity and 0.62 and 0.87 specificity, respectively, as gold standard for the fulfillment of criteria for at least one DSM-IV somatoform disorder, excluding the NOS diagnostic group. The Illness Worrying subscale showed less impressive performance in this respect. The agreement between the Whiteley-7 scale including the two subscales and neurologists' rating and the GPs' rating and the somatization subscale on the SCL-90 was modest or worse. It may be concluded that the Whiteley-7 scale and the Illness Conviction subscale had acceptable psychometric profiles, and both seem to be promising screening tools for not only hypochondriasis but also for somatoform disorders in general.

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Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. Derogatis, 1973, SCL-90, Psychopharmacol Bull, 9, 13
  2. Clarke, 1991, Screening for psychiatric morbidity in the general hospital, Int J Meth Psychiatric Res, 1, 79

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Metadata

Authors
Fink, P., Ewald, H., Jensen, J., Sørensen, L., Engberg, M., Holm, M., & Munk-Jørgensen, P.
Affiliations
Aarhus University Hospital (DK)
Corresponding author
Fink, Per
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Psychosomatic Research
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
1999-03
Volume
46
Issue
3
Pages
261-273
ISSN
0022-3999 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/s0022-3999(98)00092-0
OpenAlex
W146236585
Cited by
314
References
38
Citations by year
2026: 11 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 22 · 2019: 22 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 14 · 2013: 13 · 2012: 12
FWCI
3.33
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Journal of Psychosomatic Research (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Scopus (Elsevier) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Research
Keywords
somatization, health anxiety, Whiteley Index, somatoform disorders, screening tool, internal validity, generalizability, neurology inpatients, primary care patients, SCL-90, Rasch model, latent structure analysis, sensitivity and specificity
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Family Practice, Female, Humans, Male, Mass Screening, Middle Aged, Neurology, Predictive Value of Tests, Primary Health Care, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Psychometrics, Surveys and Questionnaires, Sensitivity and Specificity, Somatoform Disorders, Reproducibility of Results

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