The Relationship between Cyberchondria and Health Anxiety and the Moderating Role of Health Literacy among the Pakistani Public
Abstract
:1. Introduction
1.1. Literature Review
1.2. Hypotheses
2. Methodology
2.1. Tools for the Study
- Cyberchondria Severity Scale: The Cyberchondria Severity Instrument—Short Form (CSS-12) is a 12-item self-report scale that is used to evaluate online health problems. Items are rated on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (always). Compulsion, discomfort, and medical skepticism were all measured on the scale. These findings indicate the presence of cyberchondria. In this study, the CSS-12 exhibited high internal consistency (Cronbach = 0.90) [37].
- Health Anxiety Scale: The Short Health Anxiety Inventory is an 18-item self-report instrument that measures health anxiety over the past six months. The theory is founded on the cognitive model of health anxiety and hypochondria. (a) Health anxiety and the predicted probability of illness (14 items) and (b) anticipated adverse effects of the disease (4 items) are assessed [38].
- Health Literacy Scale: The updated European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire was used to assess health literacy (HLS19-Q12). The HLS19-Q12 questionnaire assesses an individual’s ability to find, comprehend, evaluate, and act on health information. It has been validated in Europe [39] and consists of 12 items that mimic the health literacy features specified by Sørensen et al. (2015) [40]. According to the European Health Literacy Survey, there are two levels of health literacy: insufficient health-related information (0–32) and sufficient health-related information (33–50).
2.2. Statistical Analysis
2.3. Ethical Committee Approval
3. Result
3.1. Assessment of Measurement Model
3.2. Individual Items and Internal Consistency Reliability
3.3. Convergent Validity
3.4. Discriminant Validity
3.5. Assessment of Structural Model
4. Discussion
Implications for Management
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Variable | F (%) |
---|---|
Gender | |
Male | 825 (63.7) |
Female | 470 (36.3) |
Participant Age Group | |
18–25 | 192 (14.9) |
26–35 | 289 (22.3) |
36–45 | 402 (31.1) |
46–55 | 165 (12.7) |
56–above 70 | 247 (19.1) |
Education Level | |
Secondary Level | 583 (45.1) |
Higher Level | 712 (54.9) |
Medical History | |
Physical Disease | Yes 612 (47.2) No 683 (52.8) |
Occupation of Respondent | |
Teaching Profession | 303 (23.3) |
Medical Profession | 142 (10.9) |
Law-and-Order Profession | 187 (14.4) |
Own Business | 95 (7.3) |
Farming | 65 (5.0) |
Unemployed | 152 (11.7) |
Student | 351 (27.1) |
Residential Area | |
Rural | 420 (32.5) |
Urban | 875 (67.5) |
Do you have any patients at your home? | Yes 655 (50.5) No 640 (49.5) |
How often do you look up your or your ill family member’s symptoms on the internet? | Almost every time 571 (44.1) Never 255 (19.6) Occasionally 469 (36.2) |
Constructs | Items | Loadings | CR | AVE |
---|---|---|---|---|
Cyberchondria | CB1 | 0.779 | 0.938 | 0.504 |
CB2 | 0.773 | |||
CB3 | 0.705 | |||
CB4 | 0.611 | |||
CB5 | 0.642 | |||
CB6 | 0.755 | |||
CB7 | 0.759 | |||
CB8 | 0.768 | |||
CB9 | 0.683 | |||
CB10 | 0.701 | |||
CB11 | 0.608 | |||
CB12 | 0.626 | |||
CB13 | 0.817 | |||
CB14 | 0.771 | |||
CB15 | 0.598 | |||
Health Anxiety | HA1 | 0.621 | 0.948 | 0.534 |
HA2 | 0.631 | |||
HA3 | 0.775 | |||
HA4 | 0.799 | |||
HA5 | 0.737 | |||
HA6 | 0.607 | |||
HA7 | 0.684 | |||
HA8 | 0.777 | |||
HA9 | 0.666 | |||
HA10 | 0.631 | |||
HA12 | 0.836 | |||
HA13 | 0.785 | |||
HA14 | 0.794 | |||
HA15 | 0.813 | |||
HA16 | 0.780 | |||
HA17 | 0.689 | |||
Health Literacy | HL1 | 0.828 | 0.846 | 0.647 |
HL2 | 0.786 | |||
HL3 | 0.800 |
CB | HA | HL | |
---|---|---|---|
CB | 0.710 | ||
HA | 0.685 | 0.730 | |
HL | 0.518 | 0.500 | 0.805 |
CB | HA | HL | |
---|---|---|---|
CB1 | 0.779 | 0.756 | 0.424 |
CB2 | 0.773 | 0.740 | 0.406 |
CB3 | 0.705 | 0.697 | 0.316 |
CB4 | 0.611 | 0.604 | 0.370 |
CB5 | 0.642 | 0.610 | 0.454 |
CB6 | 0.755 | 0.736 | 0.353 |
CB7 | 0.759 | 0.739 | 0.323 |
CB8 | 0.768 | 0.749 | 0.393 |
CB9 | 0.683 | 0.676 | 0.490 |
CB10 | 0.701 | 0.690 | 0.221 |
CB11 | 0.608 | 0.601 | 0.197 |
CB12 | 0.626 | 0.619 | 0.535 |
CB13 | 0.817 | 0.809 | 0.395 |
CB14 | 0.771 | 0.761 | 0.463 |
CB15 | 0.598 | 0.539 | 0.144 |
HA1 | 0.578 | 0.621 | 0.490 |
HA2 | 0.631 | 0.649 | 0.199 |
HA3 | 0.747 | 0.775 | 0.534 |
HA4 | 0.799 | 0.819 | 0.348 |
HA5 | 0.708 | 0.737 | 0.473 |
HA6 | 0.607 | 0.619 | 0.250 |
HA7 | 0.684 | 0.689 | 0.442 |
HA8 | 0.756 | 0.777 | 0.194 |
HA9 | 0.666 | 0.686 | 0.312 |
HA10 | 0.600 | 0.631 | 0.468 |
HA12 | 0.799 | 0.836 | 0.474 |
HA13 | 0.784 | 0.785 | 0.378 |
HA14 | 0.745 | 0.794 | 0.407 |
HA15 | 0.813 | 0.814 | 0.335 |
HA16 | 0.771 | 0.780 | 0.481 |
HA17 | 0.676 | 0.689 | 0.202 |
HL1 | 0.457 | 0.420 | 0.828 |
HL2 | 0.356 | 0.351 | 0.786 |
HL3 | 0.429 | 0.430 | 0.800 |
CB | HA | HL | |
---|---|---|---|
CB | - | ||
HA | 0.469 | - | |
HL | 0.624 | 0.601 | - |
Hypothesis | Relationships | Beta | SE | T-Value | p-Value | Decision |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
H1 | CB->HA | 0.215 | 0.205 | 1.052 | 0.000 | Supported |
H2 | CB*HL->HA | −0.769 | 0.367 | 2.097 | 0.037 | Supported |
Gender | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Male | Female | ||||
(825) | (470) | ||||
Scales | M (SD) | M (SD) | Sig. | t | df |
1. Cyberchondria | 3.15 (1.09) | 5.57 (3.67) | 0.003 | −2.42 ** | 1293 |
2. Health Anxiety | 1.96 (0.71) | 2.01 (0.99) | 0.53 | 1.75 | 1293 |
3. Health Literacy | 2.27 (1.05) | 1.67 (0.92) | 0.02 | 2.03 * | 1293 |
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Sansakorn, P.; Mushtaque, I.; Awais-E-Yazdan, M.; Dost, M.K.B. The Relationship between Cyberchondria and Health Anxiety and the Moderating Role of Health Literacy among the Pakistani Public. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2024, 21, 1168. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph21091168
Sansakorn P, Mushtaque I, Awais-E-Yazdan M, Dost MKB. The Relationship between Cyberchondria and Health Anxiety and the Moderating Role of Health Literacy among the Pakistani Public. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2024; 21(9):1168. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph21091168
Chicago/Turabian StyleSansakorn, Preeda, Iqra Mushtaque, Muhammad Awais-E-Yazdan, and Muhammad Khyzer Bin Dost. 2024. "The Relationship between Cyberchondria and Health Anxiety and the Moderating Role of Health Literacy among the Pakistani Public" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 21, no. 9: 1168. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph21091168