Article

Cyberchondria: Examining relations with problematic Internet use and metacognitive beliefs

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Abstract

Cyberchondria refers to the repeated use of the Internet to search for health-related information, which leads to negative consequences. This two-part study provides the first known examination of how cyberchondria relates to (a) problematic Internet use and (b) metacognitive beliefs. Participants were U.S. community adults who reported using the Internet to search for health-related information (Study 1: N = 337, Study 2: N = 260). In Study 1, cyberchondria shared a strong association with problematic Internet use, and that association was unaccounted for by age, gender, current reported medical status, negative affect, or health anxiety. In Study 2, cyberchondria was found to share moderate to strong associations with metacognitive beliefs. The association between cyberchondria and metacognitive beliefs about the uncontrollability of thoughts remained intact after accounting for the Study 1 covariates, as well as anxiety sensitivity and intolerance of uncertainty. Neither anxiety sensitivity nor intolerance of uncertainty shared unique associations with cyberchondria. These results provide a preliminary indication that a metacognitive conceptualization of problematic Internet use may be applicable to cyberchondria. Key practitioner message A metacognitive conceptualization of cyberchondria appears tenable. Metacognitive beliefs, particularly about the uncontrollability of thoughts, appear more relevant to cyberchondria than either anxiety sensitivity or intolerance of uncertainty. Metacognitive treatment strategies could be useful in the treatment of cyberchondria.

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... Some authors have suggested that cyberchondria may be associated with behavioral addictions or, specifically, with PUI, being a specific form of PUI. However, there have been limited studies examining this possibility within existing theoretical frameworks [3,35,36]. Some have suggested similarities between online behavioral addictions and cyberchondria may involve impaired control over internet use, the presence of mental and behavioral preoccupation, mood modification, and the use of cyberchondria-related behaviors to reduce distress [33,37]. ...
... Although these beliefs have been little explored in cyberchondria, some studies have focused on metacognitive beliefs. It has been hypothesized that metacognitive beliefs may contribute to maladaptive forms of self-regulation, such as cyberchondria or PUI, which may worsen the negative emotions experienced [36]. ...
... Therefore, factors such as educational level, information processing skills, and skills related to technology use maybe associated with the development and maintenance of cyberchondria [6]. Some factors associated with cyberchondria that have been explored more frequently include smartphone addiction [54], PUI [36], metacognitive beliefs [36,44,55], pain catastrophizing [56], intolerance of uncertainty [53,57], intolerance to distress [58], impairment [59], quality of life [59], and service utilization [59]. Because some of these factors constitute addictive behaviors or disorders or are related to them, the extent to which cyberchondria may include elements of addiction warrants further investigation. ...
Article
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Purpose of Review The main purpose of this narrative review is to provide a brief overview of the current empirical evidence regarding the conceptualization, assessment, and treatment of cyberchondria, with a focus on the potential classification of cyberchondria as a behavioral addiction. Although cyberchondria has been widely associated with anxiety, it has also been suggested that it may be linked to obsessive–compulsive features. A less explored proposal is the categorization of cyberchondria as a behavioral addiction. The present review explores the existing literature with respect to the possible classification of cyberchondria as a behavioral addiction by considering cyberchondria with respect to components of the interaction of person, affect, cognition and execution model. Recent Findings There is a lack of consensus regarding the definition and conceptualization of cyberchondria. The empirical evidence available to date suggests that cyberchondria is a multifactorial construct that operates transdiagnostically, particularly with respect to obsessive–compulsive-related disorders and health-related anxiety. The extent to which the condition may reflect a behavioral addiction as a form of problematic use of the internet also warrants consideration. Cyberchondria may have become more prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic, with particular populations prone to health-related anxiety likely having greater vulnerability. Existing data in part support the potential classification of cyberchondria as a behavioral addiction, although many gaps in understanding currently exist. Summary Cyberchondria appears to be a growing concern. However, there is not yet enough empirical evidence to determine whether this clinical condition has enough similarities with behavioral addictions to be considered as one. Likewise, psychometric instruments that exist to date have not been designed from the theoretical framework of behavioral addictions, so most of the factors that they evaluate may be preferentially related to anxiety. Finally, there is still no consensus on whether cyberchondria should be addressed in the context of health anxiety interventions, OCRD, or behavioral addictions; thus, more empirical evidence is needed.
... 40.89% were single, most had a level of education ≥13 (48.31%, 41.08%, 3.95%) and were students (47.54%). 19.98% underwent the COVID-19 vaccine and many participants were on call (84.46%). 89.18% reported that they had not received COVID-19. ...
... We observed that gender had significant differences; females experienced higher levels of cyberchondria than males. Therefore, some research shows that the female sex is positively associated with cyberchondria, while others state that gender has no effect [19,20]. ...
... We observed that gender had significant differences; females experienced higher levels of cyberchondria than males. This finding contrasted previous research that found gender does not affect cyberchondria [19]. ...
Article
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The COVID-19 outbreak has been associated with various psychological problems, such as Cyberchondria, constant research for information online, to obtain health-related information. This was associated with problematic social media use and various psychological problems. This study aimed to measure the characteristics of fear and anxiety of COVID-19, the generalized approach to online searching and the use of the Internet about the perception of health, during a pandemic. The online survey was disseminated from April to June 2021 on available social media channels. We found that the pandemic was associated with depression, anxiety, cyberchondria, and cognitive preoccupation. We reported an increase in cyberchondria, depression, stress, low mood, and anxiety during the Covid outbreak. The Internet plays a vital role in everyday life in this period, because it has become a popular source of accessing health-related information.
... Information overload has been identified to be connected to cyberchondria via the continued search for reinforcing information (Norr et al., 2015). Experts have also discovered that cyberchondria is neither linked to age, gender, or even the medical condition of its victim (Fergus & Spada, 2017). Nonetheless, distaste for ambiguity, metacognitive notions, and intolerance of uncertainty play roles in engendering cyberchondria (Norr et al., 2015;Fergus & Spada, 2017). ...
... Experts have also discovered that cyberchondria is neither linked to age, gender, or even the medical condition of its victim (Fergus & Spada, 2017). Nonetheless, distaste for ambiguity, metacognitive notions, and intolerance of uncertainty play roles in engendering cyberchondria (Norr et al., 2015;Fergus & Spada, 2017). ...
... Although various scholars strongly support the relationship between sharing unverified information and cyberchondria, this current study further argues that the sharing of unverified information is not only driven by cyberchondria (Norr et al., 2015;Fergus & Spada, 2017;McMullan et al., 2019). Instead, it is also driven by the socio-economic environment within a given society which can heighten cyberchondria among a particular group of people. ...
Book
This contributed volume, based on papers presented at a conference held in Zimbabwe in mid-2021, interrogates solutions to COVID-19-related problems and issues across agricultural, environmental and water sectors in Zimbabwe and assesses their scientific, economic and practical validity. Across 19 chapters, this volume unpacks the science, economics and politics of the pandemic with a focus on understanding its secondary and tertiary impact on Zimbabwe’s population. The volume is also dedicated to understanding the practical and policy-oriented approaches in tackling the pandemic and confronting the “new normal” of COVID-19. It brings together researchers, development practitioners and policy makers from various disciplines in an endeavour to understand COVID-19 trends and analyse the scientific options for mitigation, containment, innovation and ultimately pre-empt the possible emergence and impacts of other pandemics in the future.
... Information overload has been identified to be connected to cyberchondria via the continued search for reinforcing information (Norr et al., 2015). Experts have also discovered that cyberchondria is neither linked to age, gender, or even the medical condition of its victim (Fergus & Spada, 2017). Nonetheless, distaste for ambiguity, metacognitive notions, and intolerance of uncertainty play roles in engendering cyberchondria (Norr et al., 2015;Fergus & Spada, 2017). ...
... Experts have also discovered that cyberchondria is neither linked to age, gender, or even the medical condition of its victim (Fergus & Spada, 2017). Nonetheless, distaste for ambiguity, metacognitive notions, and intolerance of uncertainty play roles in engendering cyberchondria (Norr et al., 2015;Fergus & Spada, 2017). ...
... Although various scholars strongly support the relationship between sharing unverified information and cyberchondria, this current study further argues that the sharing of unverified information is not only driven by cyberchondria (Norr et al., 2015;Fergus & Spada, 2017;McMullan et al., 2019). Instead, it is also driven by the socio-economic environment within a given society which can heighten cyberchondria among a particular group of people. ...
Chapter
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In this chapter, we use the concept of everyday practice to highlight the plight of urban residents and what it means/takes to survive the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in a water-insecure city. We use data from four Wards on differentiated locations relative to storage tanks supplying water and different water rationing zones. The data was collected from 2020 to 2021 (2 years). A stratified random sampling technique was used to select a study sample of 303 respondents. Of these, 200 household heads were interviewed at their place of residency, while the remaining 103 respondents gave interviews while waiting to draw water from boreholes dotted around the four residential areas. Our results suggest that the policies for managing the pandemic paid less attention to everyday practices of getting around the more than two-decade-old water challenges in the urban areas. The water challenges in the urban areas further exposed the residents to COVID-19 infection, and the pandemic widened the gendered and spatial inequalities to access to water. We conclude that the search for and concerted efforts to access water to manage and prevent COVID-19 infection were equally associated with high chances of being infected and/or spreading COVID-19. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is not the last water-demanding crisis we will experience. This calls for a paradigm shift in urban water and sanitation access planning to include alternative water sources – groundwater – at the initial stages of residential planning.
... Some students may lose control over Internet use, resulting in excessive use to the detriment of other life activities (Boysan et al., 2017;Fawaz & Samaha, 2021;Guo et al., 2020). Cyberchondria is a common symptom of Internet addiction in some students (Fergus & Dolan, 2014;Fergus & Spada, 2017;Fergus & Russell, 2016;Rohilla et al., 2020). Specific individual personality attributes and the availability of information influence vulnerability to cyberchondria (Selvi et al., 2018;Tyrer et al., 2019). ...
... An individual may be more prone to becoming addicted to the Internet if they have both proximal (e.g., pre-existing psychopathology) and distal (e.g., negative thoughts that increase the urge to use the Internet) risk factors (Davis, 2001). Another theoretical model adopted from this study is the metacognitive model of cyberchondria (Fergus & Spada, 2017). People with cyberchondria are at greater risk of experiencing profound anxiety and distress due to metacognitive beliefs. ...
... Based on internet health information, a speculative escalation of anxiety about specific health issues causes cyberchondria (Bati et al., 2018;Bajcar et al., 2019;McMullan et al., 2019;Selvi et al., 2018), which is common among the student community (Bati et al., 2018). According to the metacognitive model of cyberchondria (Fergus & Spada, 2017), students with cyberchondria are at a high risk of anxiety and distress due to their negative metacognitive beliefs. These beliefs include the Internet's loss of control and the threats of searching for health information online. ...
Article
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Repetitive online searches for health information increase anxieties and result in Internet addiction. Internet addiction, cyberchondria, anxiety sensitivity, and hypochondria have been studied separately, but how these concepts are reciprocally linked has not been investigated. This study aimed to determine the levels, correlations, and predictors of Internet addiction, cyberchondria, anxiety sensitivity, and hypochondria among students based on the sample’s characteristics. A sample of 143 university students participated in this cross-sectional online survey. A self-reported questionnaire was employed to collect data from students. The studied concepts had moderate to high correlations with each other and with the students’ characteristics. Not getting infected with the coronavirus was among the demographic factors inserted into the regression model that only predicted cyberchondria. The model of cyberchondria was significant and explained 11.5% of the variance in the score of concepts. The results of the standard regression analysis indicated that the model predicting Internet addiction accounted for 41.2% of the variability. Our unique findings indicate that cyberchondria can contribute to developing Internet addiction compared to earlier studies. The findings suggest the importance of empowering students to overcome their anxieties by managing cyberchondria and Internet addiction. Mental health professionals, namely psychiatric nurses, are at the forefront of taking preventive mental health measures on campus, such as screening and referring students who exhibit these problems to psychological support and counseling to cope with their anxieties.
... 6 Evidence suggests that cyberchondria can lead to some negative impacts, such as problematic internet usage, functional impairment, and reduced perceived quality of life. [7][8][9] As our society becomes increasingly inundated with digital information and more people become proactive about managing their health online, cyberchondria emerges as a prevalent and concerning behavioral pattern. 10 This phenomenon warrants the attention of public health professionals and researchers, as it represents a novel challenge in the realm of digital health management. ...
... Extant cyberchondria research mainly focuses on psychological predictors such as intolerance of uncertainty, 28,29 health anxiety, 30,31 and metacognitive beliefs. 7,21,24 More specifically, a meta-analysis study reported that there is a strong positive relationship between health anxiety and cyberchondria as well as a moderate positive relationship between health anxiety and OHIS. 30 Afrin and Prybutok 32 found that affective responses and health anxiety serially mediate the relationship between intolerance of uncertainty and cyberchondria among the US internet users. ...
Article
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Objectives Cyberchondria is increasingly recognized as the dark side of digital health, given the pervasive use of the internet as a main source of health information in people's daily lives. While previous studies have identified many factors contributing to cyberchondria, there is a dearth of research on the impact of health-related advertisements. Therefore, this study adopts the stressor–strain–outcome (SSO) model to investigate how health-related advertising interference is directly and indirectly related to cyberchondria. Methods To empirically validate the proposed research model, we conducted an online survey with 437 internet users with medical information seeking experience in China. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to analyze the survey data. Results Our findings revealed a positive, direct association between health-related advertising interference and cyberchondria. Meanwhile, advertising interference was positively related to both information overload and information irrelevance, with the former further predicting cyberchondria. Moreover, doctor–patient communication weakened the positive effect of information overload on cyberchondria. Conclusions The study not only theoretically contributes to the literature by theorizing the relationship between health-related advertising interference and cyberchondria but also practically underlines the pivotal role of effective doctor–patient communication in reducing the development of cyberchondria.
... Negative metacognitive beliefs revolve around a sense of losing personal control over one's behavior and the perceived harm of this excessive and repetitive pattern. Stronger negative metacognitive beliefs amplify the perceived threat of online health research (Fergus & Spada, 2017). Prospective uncertainty intolerance, involving anxious anticipation of the future and a desire for expectedness in forthcoming events, has been identified as a potential risk factor for cyberchondria (Norr et al., 2015). ...
... Prospective uncertainty intolerance, involving anxious anticipation of the future and a desire for expectedness in forthcoming events, has been identified as a potential risk factor for cyberchondria (Norr et al., 2015). Numerous studies have corroborated significant correlations between cyberchondria and health anxiety, framing cyberchondria as a manifestation of health anxiety in the digital era (McMullan et al., 2019;Fergus & Spada, 2017;Fergus, 2014). ...
Article
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Aim of the Study: This study investigated the efficacy of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) in alleviating cyberchondria among young adults, comparing it with problem-solving-based psychoeducation. Methodology: Twenty participants (4 men, 16 women) were purposively sampled and randomly assigned to either CBT or psychoeduation, involving six online group sessions. Participants, aged 18-35 years (Mean = 25.80; SD = 4.48), were assessed using the Short Health Anxiety Inventory (SHAI; Salkovskis et al., 2002), Whiteley Index (WI; Pillowsky, 1967), and Cyberchondria Severity Scale (CSS; McElroy et al., 2019) before and after therapy. Findings: Results revealed a significant post-treatment difference between the two groups. The CBT group exhibited noteworthy reductions in CSS, SHAI, and WI scores, indicating its efficacy in managing cyberchondria. Controlling for covariates demonstrated statistically significant differences in participants' scores on outcome measures, affirming the overall efficacy of both interventions in improving cyberchondria. Conclusion: This study holds substantial implications for developing targeted strategies to address the growing concern of cyberchondria.
... As a result of technological developments enabling its mass and lowcost use, the Internet has become the primary source of information about health (Aulia, Marchira, Supriyanto, & Pratiti, 2020;White & Horvitz, 2009), with studies in various countries showing that 40 % to 72 % of Internet users seek health information online (e.g., Fergus & Spada, 2017;Manganello et al., 2017;Marino et al., 2020;McElroy et al., 2019;Starcevic, Baggio, Berle, Khazaal, & Viswasam, 2019). Access to health information can have undeniably positive effects, such as higher awareness of the signs and symptoms of disorders and better knowledge of positive (preventive) health behaviors (Manganello et al., 2017;McElroy et al., 2019). ...
... Therefore, our hypothesis postulated not only a simple correlational relationship between stress appraisal and rumination but also a mediated one between stress and cyberchondria via rumination. Moreover, studies have revealed relationships between rumination and problematic use of new technologies, including cyberchondria (Demirtas et al., 2022;Dempsey et al., 2019;Fergus & Spada, 2017). Like rumination, this syndrome manifests itself in a persistent and recurrent focus on one aspect of reality-in this case, searching for health information online. ...
Article
Cyberchondria, defined as excessive concern about one's health and looking for solutions to health problems on the Internet, is becoming increasingly common. This paper examines the relations between the dimensions of stress appraisal (threat, challenge-activity, challenge-passivity, harm/loss) and cyberchondria. We also tested whether these relations were mediated by rumination. The study included a nonclinical sample of N = 615 participants aged 18 to 83 years (M = 43.86, SD = 14.57, 53 % women), who completed the short version of the Cyberchondria Severity Scale, the Rumination Scale, and the Stress Appraisal Questionnaire. We used the Computer-Assisted Web Interview (CAWI) method. The results revealed that rumination was a partial mediator between stress as a threat and cyberchondria and between stress as a harm/loss and cyberchondria. Cyberchondria was positively related to rumination, stress as a threat, and stress as a harm/loss and negatively related to the challenge-activity dimension of stress appraisal. The study indicates that stress appraisal is linked to cyberchondria and that rumination plays an important role in this relationship.
... This disorder may lead to increase of unnecessary medical expenses, worry, distress, etc. (Starcevic et al., 2020). In addition, cyberchondria is related to health anxiety (Durak-Batigun et al., 2018;Fergus & Spada, 2017, 2018Mc Mullan et al., 2019), associated a problematic use of the internet (Fergus & Spada, 2017;Selvi et al., 2018) and with obsessive compulsive disorders Fergus, 2012). People who use frequently the media as an information source increase cyberchondria COVID-19 and in-formation overload (Farooq et al., 2020). ...
... This disorder may lead to increase of unnecessary medical expenses, worry, distress, etc. (Starcevic et al., 2020). In addition, cyberchondria is related to health anxiety (Durak-Batigun et al., 2018;Fergus & Spada, 2017, 2018Mc Mullan et al., 2019), associated a problematic use of the internet (Fergus & Spada, 2017;Selvi et al., 2018) and with obsessive compulsive disorders Fergus, 2012). People who use frequently the media as an information source increase cyberchondria COVID-19 and in-formation overload (Farooq et al., 2020). ...
Article
Full-text available
Background. The pandemic is having a significant impact on mental health, especially in vulnerable groups. Method. A conditional analysis was carried out with a population of 185 people. The study population did not have any psychiatric diagnosis, they are people without autism. The age of the participants ranges between 18 and 72 years (M = 31.43; SD = 16.26). The mediating role of autistic traits and the moderating role of age between the emotional impact of the pandemic and depressive symptoms are analyzed. Results. The results demonstrate a significant influence of age and emotional impact of the pandemic on the depressive symptoms. The mediating variable autistic traits was also significant. Conclusions.
... Second, its negative impacts include reduced trust in doctors, increased self-treatment behaviors, medical errors, lower quality of life, and wasted health care resources [22,23]. It has also been linked to problematic internet use [24]. Despite these findings, little research has examined the link between cyberchondria and health information avoidance. ...
Article
Background The global aging population and rapid development of digital technology have made health management among older adults an urgent public health issue. The complexity of online health information often leads to psychological challenges, such as cyberchondria, exacerbating health information avoidance behaviors. These behaviors hinder effective health management; yet, little research examines their mechanisms or intervention strategies. Objective This study investigates the mechanisms influencing health information avoidance among older adults, emphasizing the mediating role of cyberchondria. In addition, it evaluates the effectiveness of mindfulness meditation as an intervention strategy to mitigate these behaviors. Methods A mixed methods approach was used, combining quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Substudy 1 developed a theoretical model based on self-determination theory to explore internal (positive metacognition and health self-efficacy) and external (subjective norms and health information similarity) factors influencing health information avoidance, with cyberchondria as a mediator. A cross-sectional survey (N=236) was conducted to test the proposed model. Substudy 2 involved a 4-week mindfulness meditation intervention (N=94) to assess its impact on reducing health information avoidance behaviors. Results Study 1 showed that positive metacognition (β=.26, P=.002), health self-efficacy (β=.25, P<.001), and health information similarity (β=.29, P<.001) significantly predicted health information avoidance among older adults. Cyberchondria mediated these effects: positive metacognition (effect=0.106, 95% CI 0.035-0.189), health self-efficacy (effect=0.103, 95% CI 0.043-0.185), and health information similarity (effect=0.120, 95% CI 0.063-0.191). Subjective norms did not significantly predict health information avoidance (β=‒.11, P=.13), and cyberchondria did not mediate this relationship (effect=‒0.045, 95% CI ‒0.102 to 0.016). Study 2 found that after the 4-week mindfulness intervention, the intervention group (group 1: n=46) exhibited significantly higher mindfulness levels than the control group (group 2: n=48; Mgroup1=4.122, Mgroup2=3.606, P<.001) and higher levels compared with preintervention (Mt2=4.122, Mt1=3.502, P<.001, where t1=preintervention and t2=postintervention). However, cyberchondria levels did not change significantly (Mt1=2.848, Mt2=2.685, P=.18). Nevertheless, the results revealed a significant interaction effect between mindfulness and cyberchondria on health information avoidance (effect=‒0.357, P=.002, 95% CI ‒0.580 to ‒0.131), suggesting that mindfulness intervention effectively inhibited the transformation of cyberchondria into health information avoidance behavior. Conclusions This study reveals the role of cyberchondria in health information avoidance and validates mindfulness meditation as an effective intervention for mitigating such behaviors. Findings offer practical recommendations for improving digital health information delivery and health management strategies for older adults.
... First, too much knowledge on internet may create metacognitive confusion because every different information may tell something that cannot be checked. For instance, online health related search may create confusion and false metacognitive beliefs because of too much information in internet from different sources (Fergus and Spada 2017). Second, this may create biased overconfidence. ...
Article
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Converging evidence from neuroscience and psychological sciences demonstrates that continuous sensory stimulation within the intensive internet use affects brain functioning on a broad scale. This includes essential memory, and metacognitive functions extend to the healthiness and disorders which are critical for the adaptive behavior and learning processes. This study aims to show the relation between intensive internet use and the responds of the brain in neural and behavioral levels through some working memory attributes and associated metacognitive functions and long-term memory processing. Accordingly, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies suggest that being online intensively has an impact on activation levels in Anterior Cingulate Cortex, Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex, Orbitofrontal Cortex, Medial and Medial frontal Gyrus, ventral striatum, and the dynamic connectivity pathways including frontal, medial and parietal networks such as Default Mode Network and Task Network which are important for memory and metacognitive functions. Moreover, intensive internet use habits affect some cognitive skills such as the selection of information cues, manipulation and retention of the information and attentional control; evaluation of one’s present knowledge, and regulation of the learning processes for; encoding, consolidation and retrieval of information for long-term memory processes are the effected features. As a conclusion, intensive internet use has a critical impact on neural processes in modular and whole brain level and could play a strong role for the alteration of memory and metacognitive processes.
... There has been stated a potential behavioral dependence relationship between the problematic internet use and cyberchondria (5,6,9). In the study of Durak-Batıgün et al., health anxiety associated with cyberchondria was positively related to the internet addiction (10). ...
Article
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Background/Aims: This study was conducted to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Cyberchondria Severity Scale-Short Form. Methods: This is a methodological-type study. Voluntary adult individuals, registered to three different family-health-centers located in Ankara were included in the study (n=322). The data were collected online using Google forms in July 14-August 8, 2021, via a questionnaire, the Cyberchondria Severity Scale-Short-Form (CSS-12-TR) and the Health Seeking Behavior Scale (HSBS). The data were analyzed via the IBM-SPSS 25.0 and IBM-AMOS 24.0. The Davis method for the content validity, The Explanatory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis methods for the construct validity were applied. The criterion-dependent validity was assessed via the concurrent validity method. Cronbach’s alpha, the split-half and test-retest (n=32) reliability tests were used. Results: The mean age was 31.95±12.45 (min. 18-max. 65). The content validity index of the scale was 0.93. The CSS-12-TR and the HSBS was found moderately correlated (r=0.485, p<0.001). The model-fit indexes were mostly in perfect agreement. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of the total scale was 0.884, and between 0.751-0.822 for the sub-dimensions. The variance between the test-retest measurements was statistically insignificant (t=0.447, p=0.658) and correlated (r=0.759, p<0.001). The intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.936 (F=15.699, p<0.001). Conclusion: The CSS-12-TR with 12 items and four sub-dimensions was found as an easy to implement, valid and reliable instrument for Turkish community-dwelling adult population. Since the cyberchondria can potentially be a problematic issue for all adult groups, its psychometric structure is recommended to be re-conducted with the Turkish older adult population.
... This lack of de ned thresholds poses several problems. Without clear cut-offs, categorizing the severity of an individual's CYB is challenging, making it di cult for healthcare professionals to identify those in need of intervention (2). Additionally, it complicates the comparison of research ndings across different studies, potentially hindering the development of standardized treatment protocols (3). ...
Preprint
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Objective This study aims to establish cut-off points for the Cyberchondria Severity Scale – 12 item version (CSS-12) to enhance its clinical and research use. Addressing this gap is essential for improving the diagnosis, treatment, and understanding of cyberchondria (CYB), ultimately benefiting affected individuals. Methods Data used in this study obtained from a cross-sectional and web-based survey to investigate the CYB in general Chinese population. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to assess the association between measures. receiver operating characteristic curve was used to estimate the cut-off value of CSS-12 and to assess their sensitivity and specificity for identifying “No CYB” and “with CYB” based on the score of GAD-7 and PHQ-9, respectively. Results A total of 1154 individuals, who completed CSS-12, GAD-7, and PHQ-9 were included in the data analysis. The correlations among these measures were moderate to strong and statistically significant (r = 0.37 and 0.40). The cut-off values for CSS-12 were calculated to be 36 for with CYB vs. without CYB based on GAD-7 (sensitivity, 85.2%; specificity, 55.3%; AUC, 0.69) and PHQ-9 (sensitivity, 81.4%; specificity, 51.8%; AUC, 0.67). Conclusion The CSS-12 cut-off value was determined in this study. This threshold enhances the specificity of CSS-12 utilization, thereby facilitating more accurate identification and management of CYB.
... An instance of this notable concern can be illustrated by cyberchondria, which refers to the repetitive search for health information online and is associated with heightened levels of health anxiety and distress (Starcevic, 2017). Studies indicate a moderate to strong positive correlation between cyberchondria and excessive Internet use (Fergus & Spada, 2017), potentially causing misclassification of patients with cyberchondria as having a behavioral (Internet) addiction, if considering the criteria of the component model of addiction (e.g., individuals with cyberchondria may exhibit symptoms such as salience, mood modification, withdrawal, and conflict with respect to their Internet searches). Nevertheless, expert clinicians are unlikely to prioritize addressing Internet addiction tendencies when treating patients with cyberchondria, as they would interpret this syndrome differently from a behavioral addiction. ...
Article
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This article sheds light on the potential of a motivational framework to enhance the understanding of problematic Internet use and facilitate an in-depth analysis of the potentially pathological manifestations that become apparent in individuals' interactions with Internet applications. The motivational framework operates under the assumption that the origins of problematic Internet behaviors can be traced back to the appetitive dimension of these particular behaviors in the context of the individual's specific needs and personal history. In this framework, the Internet is not perceived as a mere instrument for multiple actions but as a genuine environment wherein individuals have the capacity to express and potentially satisfy their distinct needs. Consequently, the motivational framework advocates a model for understanding problematic Internet use that posits active agency on the part of individuals as they actively seek strategies for the management and regulation of their emotions through online activities. As a result, the framework recommends caution in categorizing dysregulated behaviors on the Internet as behavioral addictions. Instead, it advocates for a thorough evaluation of individuals exhibiting problematic use of Internet services and applications, emphasizing an assessment that scrutinizes the persistence and significance of specific Internet behaviors over time, along with an exploration of the underlying motivations driving these behaviors. Through this lens, the understanding of symptom development is significantly enriched. Recognizing the specific motivations that guide individual behaviors within the online environment emerges as a crucial component in improving case formulation and developing personalized treatment approaches.
... 9,38 Furthermore, problematic internet use (PIU) as a form of maladaptive behavior may also be a result of cyberchondria, given that its constructs reflect an uncontrollability of internet use, which has been confirmed by many studies. [39][40][41] The goal of the following investigation was thus to examine whether depression, functional impairment and PIU are outcomes of cyberchondria in the context of China. ...
Article
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Purpose Cyberchondria is a problematic or unhelpful behavior pattern that describes excessive or repetitive online health-related information searching related to an enhanced level of health anxiety. Such internet-derived medical anxiety can manifest itself in different ways across cultures. This study explores the unique nature of cyberchondria in the context of Chinese culture, identifying the risk factors for the condition and the possible negative outcomes. Methods An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to explore whether the structure of the Chinese version of the Cyberchondria Severity Scale (C-CSS) is different from that in western context. Subsequently, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to verify the model fit of the C-CSS. Finally, a series of regression analysis were used to test the relationship between cyberchondria and its antecedent variables and consequence variables in Chinese context. Results Retained 18 items and revised to 3 dimensions (Negative Effects, Excessiveness and Reassurance Seeking), the Chinese version of the Cyberchondria Severity Scale (C-CSS) was developed. In the context of China, the three antecedents were also effective predictors of cyberchondria, and C-CSS is also related to theoretically relevant outcomes. Conclusion This study initially demonstrated the validity, reliability and applicability of C-CSS to assess the severity of cyberchondria among Chinese undergraduates.
... From an online survey of 749 respondents, risk factors for the severity of cyberchondria were found to include health-related anxiety, obsessive-compulsive tendencies, and intolerance of uncertainty [73]. Another study found a strong correlation between problematic Internet use in general and cyberchondria in particular [74]. So pervasive is the problem that a cyberchondria severity scale has been proposed to help quantify the phenomenon [75]. ...
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The digital revolution has had a profound effect on American and global healthcare, which was accelerated by the pandemic and telehealth applications. Digital health also includes popular and more esoteric forms of wearable monitoring systems and interscatter and other wireless technologies that facilitate their telemetry. The rise in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) may serve to improve interpretation from imaging technologies to electrocardiography or electroencephalographic tracings, and new ML techniques may allow these systems to scan data to discern and contextualize patterns that may have evaded human physicians. The necessity of virtual care during the pandemic has morphed into new treatment paradigms, which have gained patient acceptance but still raise issues with respect to privacy laws and credentialing. Augmented and virtual reality tools can facilitate surgical planning and "hands-on" clinical training activities. Patients are working with new frontiers in digital health in the form of "Dr. Google" and patient support websites to learn or share medical information. Patient-facing digital health information is both a blessing and curse, in that it can be a boon to health-literate patients who seek to be more active in their own care. On the other hand, digital health information can lead to false conclusions, catastrophizing, misunderstandings, and "cyberchondria." The role of blockchain, familiar from cryptocurrency, may play a role in future healthcare information and would serve as a disruptive, decentralizing, and potentially beneficial change. These important changes are both exciting and perplexing as clinicians and their patients learn to navigate this new system and how we address the questions it raises, such as medical privacy in a digital age. The goal of this review is to explore the vast range of digital health and how it may impact the healthcare system.
... Cyberchondria behaviors are prevalent among young individuals (Fergus and Spada 2017). A study conducted with university students and staff in Finland concluded that social media participants experienced information overload and high levels of cyberchondria (Farooq, Laato, and Najmul Islam 2020). ...
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This study aimed to explore the correlation between cyberchondria levels, depression risk, and the quality of life among female students amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The research was conducted with 534 female students enrolled in a public university. Participants were asked to complete a Personal Information Form, Cyberchondria Severity Scale (CSS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and "Short Form-36 (SF-36)" questionnaire. The findings from the multiple linear regression analysis revealed that the level of cyberchondria increased the depression risk by 0.06 times among students. Additionally, nonsmokers were found to have a depression risk that was 4.06 times lower than smokers. A negative and weak correlation was observed between the total score of the CSS and the SF-36 survey. Based on the study's results, it can be concluded that the participants exhibited a moderate level of cyberchondria. Moreover, the study revealed a decreased quality of life and an increased risk of depression in participants as their level of cyberchondria increased. In order to mitigate the adverse impact of current and future health crises, it is imperative to prioritize organizing educational programs aimed at enhancing the e-health literacy level among female students, along with interventions to manage cyberchondria behaviors.
... Accordingly, as problematic internet use increases, the severity of cyberchondria also increases. In a study on cyberchondria and problematic internet use in 2017, a significant relationship was found between them, similar to our study (11). In a research conducted by Starcevic et al. (12), who developed the Cyberchondria Severity scale, a positive statistically significant relationship was found between problematic internet use and cyberchondria. ...
... [34] Studies also indicated that cyberchondria was associated with avoidance coping with health anxiety. Fergus and Spada [35] found a strong association between cyberchondria and PIU, which has been conceptualized as an avoidant coping strategy. ...
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Background During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a significant increase in online health information-seeking (HIS) behavior, leading to increased levels of psychological distress. Objective This study examines whether proactive, preventive, and avoidance coping styles hinder or promote cyberchondria, anxiety characterized by excessive online HIS behavior during the pandemic. Materials and Methods The sample included 286 Indian young adults who responded to the Proactive Coping Inventory and Cyberchondria Severity Scale-12. The data were collected after the rapid spread of COVID-19 in India. Results The correlation analysis revealed that proactive coping had a weak negative relationship with cyberchondria, while avoidance coping had a weak positive relationship. Regression analysis showed proactive coping as an inverse predictor of cyberchondria. Conclusions This study was one of the few that examined the relationship between coping and cyberchondria during the pandemic. The findings provide a foundation for future research on cyberchondria in collectivistic cultures like India.
... Ongoing COVID-19 pandemic induced virus anxiety was comparable to cyberchondria as they consumed unbridled media-information leading to elevated levels of anxiety [18]. Problematic internet use (PIU) by Fergus & Spada, [19] established health anxiety as has been studied by Spada. 2014 and presents PIU as a relevant factor to both health anxiety (hypochondriasis) and cyberchondria. ...
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Background: Cyberchondria, identified in recent times, is defined as persistent internet probing behavior for health-related information accompanying anxiety and negative affect of worry or apprehension about one’s health. Problematic internet use has been defined as failure to keep a check on consuming internet accompanying adverse consequences. Given the nature of the digital age, we experience a surplus amount of information leading to information overload which becomes an impediment rather than an aid. The phenomenon of too much information causing reduced performance at work and having adverse effects on health. Availability of personal cell phones and other devices equipped with the internet coupled with digital skills has enabled young population with internet connectivity and knowledge persisting the unequal divide between young and older population. The study aimed to explore the role of problematic internet use (PIU) and cognitive overload (CO) on cyberchondria (CYB) in the working professionals. Methods: 194 working professionals from IT, media & advertising sectors from two age groups (new adult gr-1 aged 21-30 and old adult gr-2 aged 31-64) on the basis of their occupational post/designation and time spent (experience) completed questionnaires measuring PIU and CO. After completion they were asked to fill out the CYB severity scale. Collected data were analyzed using correlation and linear regression. Results: Variables showed significant correlation with cyberchondria in working professionals. PIU emerged as a significant predictor of CO, explaining well the variation in CO. CO emerged as a significant but mild predictor of CYB acting as a risk factor in CYB. Keywords: problematic internet use, cyberchondria, cognitive overload, working professionals
... A representative interpretation for cyberchondria formation [11] suggested that it results from heightened health anxiety that was caused by searching for health information online, and cyberchondria would in turn increase the motivation to search for more relevant information, like a vicious circle. Therefore, cyberchondria is characterized as excessive and compulsive searching for information online, accompanying by aggravated depression [11,26,27]. White and Horvitz [6] analyzed over two thousand online search records and found that 13.5% of subjects searched repeatedly for certain health terms during an eleven-month period, which suggested that people often unnecessarily worry about some innocuous symptoms. ...
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People with cyberchondria are used to excessively seeking online health information, accompanying by heightened health anxiety, so they may be frequently exposed to or engaged in online misinformation, especially during the regular COVID-19 epidemic. Meanwhile, more and more older adults access the Internet for health information, facing the risk of fraud by misinformation. This study aims to explore how people varied in cyberchondria severity discern health misinformation they encountered online, how their credibility judgments impact subsequent willingness to read further and search for more relevant information, as well as age effects regarding the two questions. An online survey was conducted among 565 younger and older adults. Respondents reported cyberchondria severity, judged the credibility of eight true and false articles involving certain diseases, and reported their intention to read further and look for more relevant information. This study mainly found that: i) Respondents with severer cyberchondria showed a worse accuracy in discerning health misinformation, because they were more likely to judge misinformation as accurate information. ii) With increased age, respondents more frequently judged misinformation as accurate information. iii) Respondents showed a higher intention to further read and search for more relevant information after reading the partial information that they perceived to be accurate (vs. inaccurate). These results indicate that people with cyberchondria and older adults may judge health misinformation as truth and search for more relevant information based on the misjudged information.KeywordsCyberchondriaOlder adultsHealth misinformationInformation credibility
... Ongoing COVID-19 pandemic induced virus anxiety was comparable to cyberchondria as they consumed unbridled media-information leading to elevated levels of anxiety [18]. Problematic internet use (PIU) by Fergus & Spada, [19] established health anxiety as has been studied by Spada. 2014 and presents PIU as a relevant factor to both health anxiety (hypochondriasis) and cyberchondria. ...
Article
The present study was conducted to explore the role of problematic internet use and cognitive overload in cyberchondria among adult professionals working in IT, media & advertising sectors. A sample of 203 (118 men, 78 women) was drawn by mens of purposive sampling. The severity of cyberchondria was assessed by using cyberchondria severity scale, problematic internet use by scale and cognitive overload by information overload questionnaire. The significance of the hypotheses was analyzed using Spearman correlation coefficient analysis, Mann Whitney test U test. Results revealed both problematic internet use and cognitive overload was positively correlated with cyberchondria. Furthermore, cyberchondria showed a significant difference between males and females in which females had a higher level of cyberchondria and were more likely to experience health related symptoms than males.
... Siberkondri ve sağlık anksiyetesini araştıran çoğu çalışma göstermiştir ki bu iki kavram arasında güçlü pozitif korelasyon bulunmaktadır. [9,10] Bireyler; kolay erişilebilir, rahat, az maliyetli olması ve çekinmeden soru sorulabilmesi gibi avantajları nedeniyle internetten sağlık bilgisi aramaktadırlar. Çevrimiçi (online) sağlık bilgisi arama davranışı; ilaç tedavilerine uyum sağlama, sağlıklı beslenme alışkanlıkları edinme, düzenli egzersiz yapma, sağlıkla ilgili etkili kararlar alabilme gibi olumlu ve koruyucu davranışlar sağlayabilmektedir. ...
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Amaç: İnternet kullanımının yaygınlaşmasıyla birlikte internetten sağlık arama davranışı ve siberkondri düzeyleri de artmaktadır. Bu çalışmada interneti yoğun olarak kullandığı düşünülen üniversite öğrencilerinde siberkondri ve anksiyete düzeyinin ölçülmesi ve ilişkili faktörlerin değerlendirilmesi amaçlanmıştır.Yöntem: Bu araştırmaya 1 Şubat-30 Nisan 2022 tarihleri arasında Selçuk Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesinden 419 öğrenci, Sağlık Bilimleri Fakültesi ve Hemşirelik Fakültesinden 414 öğrenci, Fen Fakültesi ve Edebiyat Fakültesinden 423 öğrenci dahil edildi. 1256 katılımcı ile çalışma tamamlandı. Çalışmanın verileri, üç bölümden oluşan bir anket formuyla toplandı. Birinci bölümde araştırmacı tarafından hazırlanan katılımcıların sosyodemografik özelliklerini ve internetten sağlık arama davranışlarını sorgulayan anket bilgi formu, ikinci bölümde Siberkondri Ciddiyet Ölçeği, üçüncü bölümde ise Beck Anksiyete Ölçeği yer aldı.Bulgular: Çalışmaya katılan 1256 öğrencinin %67,2’si kadın, %32,8’i erkek olup yaş ortalaması 20,90±1,38’di. Katılımcıların SCÖ puan ortalaması 73,01±19,22, BAÖ puan ortalaması 14,52±11,48’idi. Fakültelere göre SCÖ ortalama puanları karşılaştırıldığında, tıp fakültesi ve sağlık bilimleri-hemşirelik fakültesi puanları, diğer fakülte puanlarına göre istatistiksel açıdan anlamlı şekilde yüksek bulundu (p
... Based on several previous studies, researchers concluded three factors closely related to cyberchondria, including Problematic Internet Use (PIU), health anxiety, and self-esteem (Bajcar & Babiak, 2021;Fergus & Spada, 2017;Starcevic et al., 2019). These three factors can have various negative impacts on individuals experiencing cyberchondria. ...
Article
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The development of information and communication technology has led teenagers to use gadgets and the internet for prolonged periods of time. Besides being used as a means of entertainment and communication, teenagers nowadays tend to search for health information through the internet. However, some people are anxious about their health condition and begin to diagnose themselves or seek certainty on the internet. Excessive searching for health information on the internet can lead to cyberchondria, which is associated with fear and anxiety. To support these efforts, this study aims to analyze the psychological impact of cyberchondria on teenagers. The methodology employed in this study was a literature review that involved five stages: gathering literature, selecting relevant materials, evaluating the literature, drawing conclusions, and discussing the research results, using a total of 12 relevant articles. The results showed that the psychological impact of cyberchondria on teenagers consisted of cognitive, affective, and conative effects. Moreover, cyberchondria can also cause non-specific somatic complaints in teenagers. The findings of this study can serve as a reference for future researchers interested in the topic of cyberchondria
... Although this phenomenon interrelates with health anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders, studies indicate that cyberchondria is a distinct entity. [5][6][7][8] Moreover, the presence of obsessive beliefs, [9] preexisting health anxiety and anxiety sensitivity, [8,10] problematic Internet usage, [10][11][12][13][14][15][16] and metacognitive beliefs [15] exacerbate the development of cyberchondria. However, the temporal relationship between these factors and cyberchondria is not established. ...
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CONTEXT: With the digital revolution, the Internet has become a source of health-related searches. Cyberchondria is a behavioral disorder where repeated online health-related searches result in health anxiety. AIMS: The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of cyberchondria among undergraduate degree college students. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: This cross-sectional study was conducted among BSc Computer Science students at Sri Sathya Sai Baba Degree College, Anantapuramu, Andhra Pradesh, during July 2022. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A sample size of 160 was arrived using the formula 4pq/l2 with prevalence (P) as 55.6%, allowable error (l) as 15% of P, 10% nonresponse rate. Out of 220 students, 160 were selected by simple random sampling method. Data were collected through self-administered Cyberchondria Severity Scale-12 questionnaire with a Likert scale scoring of 0–4. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: K-means cluster analysis was performed to assess the prevalence of cyberchondria and people at risk to develop cyberchondria. RESULTS: The study involved 57% of females and 43% of males. The prevalence of cyberchondria was 22.5% with excessiveness (mean ± standard deviation [SD]: 3.36 ± 2.091) being the dominant construct followed by distress, compulsion, and reassurance (Mean ± SD: 2.48 ± 2.493). CONCLUSIONS: This study indicates that cyberchondria is an emerging problem among undergraduate students and emphasis has to be laid on health education regarding the reliability of health information.
... Many studies contributed to the fact that people having biased metacognitions about their overall health experience attentional biasness regarding their symptoms. They usually misinterpret their bodily sensations for a dangerous disease thus creating more and more anxiety and exhibiting more catastrophic behaviors such as reassurance seeking and avoidance seeking to gain control on the uncontrollable events 6 . It was suggested that metacognition and cyberchondria significantly correlates with each other and the findings are in consistent with other studies the reason is that when people perceive an event threatening they will try to evaluate its consequence by gaining information related to that event. ...
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Objective: The present study tries to explore the impact of health anxiety on cyberchondria and mediating effects of metacognitive beliefs. Study Design: Cross sectional study Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted at the Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan from September 2021 to January 2022. Materials and Methods: A sample of 320 normal healthy participants of both genders were selected through a predetermined criteria comprising of (n=163) male, 59.1% and (n=157) were females, 49.1%. A cross-sectional research design was proposed and purposive sampling technique was employed to collect data. The survey consisted of three highly reliable scales measuring the variables in construct (Health Anxiety Inventory, Cyberchondria Severity Scale and Metacognitions Questionnaire-Health Anxiety). The data was analyzed via Smart PLS 3 and SPSS. Using structural equation modeling. Results: The findings revealed that health anxiety is a significant predictor of cyberchondria as (β=0.56, p<0.001, R 2 = 0.32) and metacognitive beliefs significantly mediates the association between health anxiety and cyberchondria. The indirect effect between health anxiety and metacognitive beliefs is significant (β=0.59, p<0.001, R 2 = 0.35) and indirect effect between metacognitive beliefs and cyberchondria is also significant (β=0.43, p<0.001, R 2 = 0.43). Conclusion: The present study observed significant association between health anxiety, metacognitions and cyberchondria. It will help medical practitioners to understand how metacognitive beliefs and health anxiety can cause an increase in cyberchondria in order to design better treatment plans.
... Yapılan bir metaanaliz sonucunda göre, sağlık kaygısı ile siberkondri arasında pozitif bir ilişkin olduğu belirlenmiştir (31). Yapılan çalışmalara göre obsesif kompülsif bozukluklarla siberkondri arasında orta düzeyde pozitif bir ilişki olduğu saptanmıştır (26,41). Bu ilişkide her iki durumda da zorunluluk ve güvence arama davranışlarının mevcut olması etkili olabilir (42). ...
... Results for the relationship between age and cyberchondria were inconsistent. In previous studies, Barke et al. (2016) and Fergus and Spada (2017) found no relationship between cyberchondria and age, whereas Laato et al. (2020) suggested that older people experienced less cyberchondria and were less likely to exchange unverified information regarding the pandemic. ...
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Introduction: The subject of our study was the role of age, fear of COVID-19 infection and insomnia as predictors of cyberchondria in a Polish sample. We were also interested in whether insomnia mediated the relationship between fear of COVID-19 infection and cyberchondria in the entire sample. Material and methods: The study sample consisted of 504 people, including 420 women and 84 men, aged 18 to 76 years (M ±SD 30.49 ±10.28), who were recruited through an online platform. Cyberchondria was assessed using the Polish version of the Cyberchon-dria Severity Scale. An 11-point numerical rating scale was used to measure the intensity of fear of COVID-19 infection for oneself. Insomnia symptoms were measured using the Polish version of the Athenian Insomnia Scale. Results: The correlation coefficients indicated positive relationships between the fear of COVID-19 infection and insomnia and cyberchondria, while age correlated negatively with cyberchondria. The hierarchical multivariate linear regression analysis revealed that COVID-19-related fear was the best predictor of cy-berchondria. Insomnia and age were also cyberchon-dria predictors, but to a lesser extent. The mediation analysis revealed a significant indirect relationship between COVID-19-related fear and cyberchondria through insomnia symptoms. Conclusions: We observed that COVID-19-related fear and, to a lesser extent, age and insomnia were cy-berchondria predictors. We also found both direct and indirect relationships between COVID-19-related fear and cyberchondria through insomnia.
... While some studies have suggested that online health information search behavior causes an increase in health anxiety (Muse et al, 2012;Abramowitz and Moore, 2007;, it has been found that health anxiety fuels online health information search behavior in some other studies (Starcevic and Berle, 2013;Baumgartner and Hartmann, 2011;Eastin and Guinsler, 2006;Singh and Brown, 2014). On the other hand, many studies claim that the relationship between health anxiety and cyberchondria is mutual (Bajcar and Babiak, 2019;Fergus and Spada, 2017;Te Poel et al, 2016). Starcevic and Berle (2013) stated that people with health anxiety can search for health information online to alleviate their distress, but the information they reach tends to increase their anxiety levels. ...
Article
Background/Aims Cyberchondria is when excessive internet searches for health-related issues, a common phenomenon likely fuelled by health anxiety and distrust in healthcare systems, leads to unfounded concerns about physical health. This can prevent individuals from seeking appropriate medical advice when needed. This study explored the relationship between health anxiety, distrust in the healthcare system and cyberchondria. Methods This cross-sectional quantitative study used a questionnaire to collect data from adults living in cities in southern Turkey. A total of 484 questionnaires were sent using Google Forms and distributed via email and social media, with 386 returned. Respondents rated items on 4- and 5-point Likert scales. The data were summarised using descriptive statistics and analysed using inferential statistics and structural equation modeling. Results There were significant positive correlations between health anxiety and cyberchondria (β=0.514) and distrust in the healthcare system and cyberchondria (β=0.283). There were also weak but significant positive relationships between cyberchondria and female sex, having a chronic condition and time spent online. Conclusions Health anxiety and lack of trust for the healthcare system can lead to increased rates of cyberchondria. Effective public health communication strategies are needed to reduce these effects by building trust in the healthcare system and alleviating health anxiety.
... The widespread use of mass media and the availability of information from various sources such as media and the internet increased awareness and, thus, introduced the attitude of seeking health information from these platforms. Currently, a considerable proportion of individuals apply to health institutions with challenging information about themselves [2]. ...
Article
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Background: Internet use, which provides the opportunity to access information from anywhere, and anytime, is increasing among adolescents and young adults. In studies examining the effect of technology use in adults, it has been observed that there is a relationship between cyberchondria and vaccine hesitancy. This study aimed to uncover the potential relationship between cyberchondria and vaccine hesitancy in adolescents and to obtain data for combating anti-vaccination in this age group. Materials and methods: A total of 2.353 high school students were enrolled within the scope of this research. The forms were delivered to the students online and 531 volunteers participated in the survey. The Cyberchondria Severity Scale and Vaccine Hesitancy Scale were used to evaluate the details of the relationship between cyberchondria and vaccine hesitancy levels in adolescents. Results: The compulsion subscales of the Cyberchondria Severity Scale in males and vaccine repugnance subscales of the Vaccine Hesitancy Scale in females were statistically significantly higher. Cyberchondria and vaccine hesitancy have a strong relationship with each other except benefits and protective value of vaccines subscale of vaccine hesitancy. Conclusion: Health policymakers should be aware of this relationship and there is a need to develop novel online intervention programs for combating anti-vaccination, particularly among cyberchondriac adolescents who have relatively high vaccination hesitancy, particularly during the pandemic.
... This might be explained by the evolving effect of cyberchondria (the excessive, maladaptive, and repeated use of the internet to retrieve medical information) 36,37 and the phenomenological overlap that exists between it and the reactive and perceptual components of health anxiety, 38 which prompts the individual to use the internet excessively for healthrelated content. 39 Cyberchondria is not included in the DSM classification and although the dominant view is that it is a part of hypochondriasis and health anxiety, a conceptual consensus has not yet been formed on this issue. 40 Health care practitioners are familiar with patients who seek reassurance during repeated visits to health care services. ...
Article
Background: Illness anxiety disorder is a condition of having a persistent fear of having a serious or life-threatening illness despite few or no symptoms. Current classification systems assume that illness anxiety is experienced relative to one's own health, and not towards others ("by proxy"), yet it has been observed to occur in parents towards their children. This study was designed to survey doctors about how commonly they encounter illness anxiety by proxy (IAP). Methods: We conducted a qualitative survey of 149 physicians who work with children (pediatricians, psychiatrists, and general practitioners) from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Egypt. The survey was administered via email and a paper-based form. In the UAE, 108 physicians were emailed the survey; 55 (50.1%) responded. For the email survey we used items from the Checklist for Reporting Results of Internet E-Surveys (CHERRIES). An additional 100 physicians were surveyed in person; 94 (94%) responded. Results: Nearly all respondents (98.7%) reported having encountered IAP in parents. Of these, 51 (34.2%) reported frequently encountering these types of health anxieties, and 50 (33.6%) reported that the parents' concern that their child had a serious disease persisted despite reassurance and appropriate medical evaluation. Seventy-eight (52.3%) respondents reported that exaggeration of actual existing symptoms was the most common reason for parents' fears; 72 (48.3%) reported that the concerned parent was more likely to be the mother; and 36 (24.2%) reported that most parents were not 100% certain of their own beliefs. Conclusions: IAP is frequently encountered by pediatricians, psychiatrists, and general practitioners. Practitioners who work with children and their parents need to be aware of this phenomenon to provide appropriate support and treatment. More research is needed to screen for the extent and severity of this phenomenon.
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This study investigates the influence of personality traits and cyberchondria on the quality of life (QoL) among Saudi Arabian university students while also developing a reliable and culturally appropriate QoL scale. Using a cross-sectional design, 376 students completed self-report measures assessing personality traits, cyberchondria, and QoL, aiming to identify dominant traits, dimensions of cyberchondria, and their predictive relationships with QoL. The findings revealed that openness, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and extraversion were the most prevalent personality traits, whereas neuroticism was the least. Among the dimensions of cyberchondria, the cognitive aspect was most prominent, followed by emotional and behavioural aspects. Regarding QoL, the health domain scored highest (4.12 ± 0.76), followed by social (3.96 ± 0.82) and psychological (3.88 ± 0.91) domains. Regression analysis identified agreeableness (β = 0.45, p < 0.01) and behavioural aspects of cyberchondria (β = -0.34, p < 0.01) as significant predictors of QoL. The newly developed 43- item QoL scale demonstrated excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.89), confirming its reliability. The study highlights that fostering agreeableness and reducing cyberchondria could improve students' well-being, contributing to the existing literature on QoL determinants and offering a valuable tool for further research
Chapter
The appearance of a new and unknown disease, COVID-19, provides a fertile ground for the rise of cyberchondria, an excessive online searching about coronavirus transmission, COVID-19 symptoms, and its long-term health-related effects, which is followed by more anxiety. The purpose of this chapter is to review and discuss new findings on cyberchondria in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. This chapter presents research findings on aspects of the pandemic which may give rise to cyberchondria, potential risk factors for cyberchondria during the pandemic, the role of cyberchondria in the development of pathological anxiety in the pandemic period with an emphasis on health anxiety and OCD, and possible impacts of seasonality of the pandemic on cyberchondria. Finally, this chapter discusses possible treatment options for cyberchondria in the time of the pandemic.
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İnternet teknolojilerinin hızla gelişmekte olduğu son yıllarda çevrimiçi ortamlar, bireylerin karşılaştıkları birtakım sorunların çözümünde başvurdukları önemli bir kaynak haline gelmiştir. Bunun bir yansıması olarak bazı kullanıcılar herhangi bir sağlık sorunu yaşadıklarında çevrimiçi kaynakları bir kurtarıcı olarak görebilmektedirler. Bu doğrultuda bazı bireyler kendilerinde var olduğunu düşündükleri bir hastalık hakkında internet üzerinde bilgi, belge ve olası tedavi yöntemlerini araştırmaktadırlar. Bu bireyler ayrıca hastalıkla ilgili olarak diğer kullanıcıların yorumlarını da incelemekte ve bu incelemelerin sonunda kendi kendilerine tanı koyarak tedavi etme çabası içerisine girebilmektedirler. Son yıllarda giderek yaygınlaşan bir durum haline gelen ve ciddi bir sağlık endişesi olarak görüldüğü için insan yaşamını olumsuz bir biçimde etkileyen bu sorun alanyazında siberkondria olarak tanımlanmaktadır. Siberkondriada birey ilk olarak hastalığın kendisinde meydana getirdiği kaygıdan kurtulmayı arzulamakta ve bunun için hastalığın içeriğini, özelliklerini, belirtilerini ve oluşturabileceği olumsuz sonuçları internetten araştırmaya koyulmaktadır. Çok yoğun yaşanan bu araştırma sürecinde bireyler internet üzerinde hastalıkla ilgili doğru olmayan, belirsiz ve sahte bilgilerle karşı karşıya kalabilmektedirler. Bu durum sağlık kaygısını azaltmayı amaçlayan bireylerin daha da fazla kaygı ve stres yaşamalarına sebep olabilmektedir. İnternet, insan sağlığı ile ilgili bireylerin önemli bilgiler edinmesine olanak verirken, diğer yandan siberkondria konusunda sorun yaşayan bireyler için ise dezenformasyon ve kaygı üreten bir kaynak haline gelebilmektedir. Bu sorun son yıllarda toplum içerisinde yaygınlaşan ve insanların fiziksel ve psikolojik sağlıkları üzerinde ciddi sorunlara yol açan bir durum haline gelmiştir. Buradan hareketle, bu kitap bölümünde siberkondria konusu ele alınmıştır. Bu bağlamda, siberkondria kavramına ilişkin temel bilgiler, bu sorunun nedenleri, yol açtığı olumsuz etkiler ve siberkondria ile başa çıkma stratejilerine değinilmiştir. Bu yönüyle çalışmanın özellikle siberkondria konusunda farkındalık kazandırma ve bu sorunla baş etme uygulamaları açısından önemli katkılar sunduğu düşünülmektedir.
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Bu çalışmanın amacı sosyal medya bağımlılığının siberkondriyi anlamlı biçimde yordayıp yordamadığını incelemektir. Ayrıca, bu çalışma kapsamında siberkondrinin yetişkinlerin sağlık kurumlarına aylık başvuru sıklığı ve günlük sosyal medya kullanım sürelerine göre anlamlı şekilde farklılaşıp farklılaşmadığı araştırılmıştır. Araştırmanın çalışma grubunu Ankara ilinde ikamet etmekte olan 196 kadın ve 188 erkek olmak üzere toplam 384 yetişkin oluşturmaktadır. Araştırma kapsamında veri toplamak için katılımcılara, araştırmacılar tarafından oluşturulan Kişisel Bilgi Formu (KBF), Siberkondri Ciddiyet Ölçeği (SCÖ-33) ve Bergen Sosyal Medya Bağımlılığı Ölçeği (BSMBÖ) uygulanmıştır. Gerçekleştirilen analizler sonucunda siberkondri ve sosyal medya bağımlılığı arasında pozitif ve istatistiksel olarak anlamlı bir ilişki olduğu görülmüştür. Sosyal medya bağımlılığının siberkondriyi ne düzeyde yordadığını test etmek maksadıyla yapılan analizler neticesinde sosyal medya bağımlılığının yetişkinlerin siberkondri düzeylerinin anlamlı bir yordayıcısı olduğu sonucuna ulaşılmıştır (R2 = .17, p < .01). Ayrıca, günlük sosyal medya kullanım süresi arttıkça siberkondri puanlarının da arttığı bulunmuştur. Siberkondri puanlarının yetişkinlerin sağlık kurumlarına aylık başvuru sıklığına göre ise anlamlı olarak farklılaşmadığı bulunmuştur.
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Internet addiction and cyberchondria have a bidirectional relationship. However, no known studies have evaluated the moderating role of anxiety sensitivity in that relationship. The study aimed to determine whether anxiety sensitivity moderates the relationship between internet addiction and cyberchondria among Jordanian nurses. Data were collected from 303 nurses using a web-based survey and convenience snowballing sampling methods using a cross-sectional research design. The Internet Addiction Test and the short version of the Cyberchondria Severity Scale were used to assess internet addiction and cyberchondria. Nurses reported mild internet addiction, low anxiety sensitivity, and moderate cyberchondria. Also, these findings suggested that sensitivity to anxious feelings moderates the relationship between internet addiction and cyberchondria. These findings would help nurses use psychosocial interventions for people with internet addiction and cyberchondria by understanding how their anxiety sensitivity promotes their internet addiction and cyberchondria.
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Amaç: Yaşlanmayla birlikte artan kronik hastalıklar çoklu ilaç kullanımına yol açmaktadır. Ülkemizde polifarmasi görülen hastaların çoğu dünya çapında da olduğu gibi 65 yaş ve üzeri hastalardan oluşur. Amacımız; aile hekimliği birimine kayıtlı yaşlı hastaların akılcı ilaç kullanımı hakkında bilgi düzeylerini saptayarak hastaların yaşam kalitesini ve tedaviye uyumunu artırmak, ilaç etkileşimlerini ve tedavi maliyetlerini azaltmak için farkındalık oluşturmaktır.Yöntem: Kesitsel ve tanımlayıcı özellikteki bu çalışmanın evrenini bir aile sağlığı merkezine kayıtlı, 65 yaş ve üzeri, çalışmaya katılmak için gönüllü beş ve üzeri ilaç kullanan 163 hasta oluşturmaktadır. Hastaların tamamı ile yüz yüze görüşülerek sosyodemografik veri formu ve 21 maddeden oluşan Akılcı İlaç Kullanım Ölçeği uygulanmıştır. Verilerin incelenmesinde SPSS 22.0 paket veri programı kullanılmıştır.Bulgular: Çalışma yaşları 65 ile 95 arasında değişmekte olan, 66’sı (%40,5) erkek ve 97’si (%59,5) kadın olmak üzere toplam 163 olgu ile yapılmıştır. Olguların %49,1’i akıllı ilaç kullanım bilgisine sahipken, %50,9’u değildir. Yaş grubu, cinsiyet, medeni hal, kronik hastalık varlığı, sigara kullanımı ile akılcı ilaç kullanım bilgisine sahip olma arasında istatistiksel olarak anlamlı bir ilişki yoktur. Lisans ve üzeri mezunlarının akılcı ilaç kullanım bilgisine sahip olma oranları, okur yazar olmayan ve ilköğretim mezunlarından istatistiksel olarak anlamlı düzeyde yüksektir.Sonuç: Polifarmasisi olan bireylerle yapılan bu çalışmada bilgi düzeylerinin literatürle benzer olması polifarmasiye yol açan, hastaların bilgi düzeylerinden başka etmenlerin olduğunu göstermektir. Türkiye’de akılcı ilaç kullanımı bilgi düzeyinin özel gruplar üzerinde değerlendirildiği tüm çalışmalarda en temel belirleyici faktör bireylerin eğitim düzeyidir. Akılcı ilaç kullanımı bilgi düzeyinin arttırılması için daha kapsamlı projeler yürütülmeli ve bu projeler özellikle bağımlı yaşlı grubuna bakım veren aile üyelerini de kapsamalıdır.
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Amaç: Bebeklik ve erken çocukluk döneminde pek çok faktör dil gelişimini etkilemektedir. Bu çalışmada 16-36 ay arasındaki çocukların ekran maruziyetinin, ailesel bazı sosyodemografik verilerle ilişkisi ve çocuğun dil ve konuşma gelişimi üzerindeki etkisi Türkçe İletişim Gelişimi Envanteri-II (TİGE-II) ile değerlendirilmiştir. Ekran maruziyeti ve maruziyet sürelerinin, çocuktaki dil ve konuşma gelişimine etkisi incelenmiştir.Yöntem: Çalışma tek merkezli, kesitsel bir çalışmadır. 1 Ekim 2022- 1 Aralık 2022 tarihleri arasında Genel Pediatri Servislerinde takip ve tedavi edilen, çalışmaya katılma kriterlerini karşılayan 90 hasta çalışmaya dahil edilmiştir. Hastaların ve anne-babalarının sosyodemografik verileri ve ekran kullanım özellikleriyle ilgili tarafımızca oluşturulan 25 soruluk anket uygulanmıştır. Çocukların dil gelişimi düzeylerini ölçmek için TİGE-II kullanılmıştır. Veri analizi için SPSS 25.0 paket programı kullanılmıştır ve istatistiksel anlamlılık düzeyi p
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Background: University students are increasingly inclined to use the Internet for health-related purposes, and their sleep problems are becoming increasingly prominent. Currently, the relationship between sleep quality and online health-related searches is poorly understood. The aim of this study was to exam the associations of sleep quality, Internet use, eHealth literacy, online health information seeking and cyberchondria in the sample of Chinese university students. Methods: A total of 2744 students completed self-reported questionnaires online containing the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), eHealth Literacy Scale, Online Health Information Seeking, Cyberchondria Severity Scale (CSS) and questions regarding sleep duration, Internet use, health status, and demographic information. Results: The prevalence of poor sleep quality (PSQI >7) among the university students was 19.9% and 15.6% students slept less than 7 h per day. As time spent on online daily and playing phone before bed increased, the prevalence of sleep disturbance gained. Sleep disturbance was significantly associated with cyberchondria (OR = 1.545, p = 0.001), health status [good (OR = 0.625, p = 0.039), poor (OR = 3.128, p = 0.010), and fair (OR = 1.932, p = 0.001)]. Sleep quality, online health information seeking and eHealth literacy positively influenced with cyberchondria. Compared to 7-8 h sleep duration, online health information seeking (OR = 0.750, p = 0.012) was significantly associated with ≥8 h sleep duration. Conclusion: Our findings highlighted poor health status, too much time spent on online daily and high cyberchondria level might decrease sleep quality in the sample of Chinese university students, further suggesting the need for developing interventions based on online health-related searches for improving sleep quality among university students.
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Cyberchondria is characterized by excessive online searching for health information and/or digital self‐tracking which is strongly associated with health anxiety, intolerance of uncertainty, anxiety sensitivity, obsessive‐compulsive symptoms, and dysfunctional meta‐cognitive beliefs. To date, it is unclear if individuals with cyberchondria suffer from excessive health‐related online searching behavior only or also from other forms of Internet use disorders. There seems to be a link between cyberchondria and health literacy, defined as perceived skills at finding, evaluating, and applying (online) health information. However, this interconnection has hardly been investigated so far. When it comes to recognizing symptoms of cyberchondria, the “Cyberchondria Severity Scale” has been developed and validated. However, no standardized diagnosis criteria and threshold values have been established yet. Thus, no reliable epidemiological data for cyberchondria is available to date. Treatment should address the maladaptive health‐ or illness‐related assumptions and beliefs by using existing, well‐established approaches for hypochondria. Furthermore, it should target the problematic Internet use and enable individuals with cyberchondria to reflect on their subjective eHealth literacy and promote a functional use of online health resources and tools.
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Introduction Online health information seeking is one of the single most popular platforms in which people gather health-related information. Many sources provide ambiguous and unauthorized health information, which is part of the digital era. Cyberchondria refers to prolonged and repetitive online health searches and negative emotional and physiological responses that occur due to online searches. Health anxiety due to COVID-19 also contributed to online health information seeking. This current study assesses the association between health anxiety and smartphone use with cyberchondria among young adults. Methods The study sample consisted of 356 individuals aged 18–25 years. We used an online survey for study participants with the Cyberchondria severity scale-12 (CSS-12), Health Anxiety Questionnaire, and the Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version. Results The mean age of participants was 22 years (standard deviation: 2.13). Sixty-two percent of participants used the information obtained by the online platform to diagnose themselves. Excessiveness was more among all other subscales of cyberchondria. The results of linear regression analysis indicated that health anxiety ( P < 0.001) and smartphone addiction ( P < 0.001) significantly contributed to cyberchondria. Conclusion This study shows the association between health anxiety and smartphone addiction with cyberchondria. This finding implies the need for a community-level conscientization on cyberchondria. There is a need to carry out promotional and preventive programs regarding the health usage of technology.
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Introduction Cyberchondria is excessive seeking for online health-related information related to increasing health anxiety and distress levels. The current study investigated the mediating role of health-related metacognition, cognitive bias, and emotion dysregulation in the relationship between personality traits and cyberchondria. Methods Participants were 703 individuals 18+ years old who had access to the internet (males = 43.8%, mean age = 33.82 ± 10.09 years and females = 56.2%, mean age = 34.37 ± 11.16 years). They voluntarily completed a questionnaire package that included the Cyberchondria Severity Scale (CSS), the revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R), the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), the Meta-Cognitions about Health Questionnaire (MCQ-HA), and the Health Cognitions Questionnaire (HCQ). Results The initial evaluation of the model demonstrated that the personality traits of openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness had no significant relationship with other variables in the structural model, and the effects of neuroticism and extroversion were the only significant results. Rerunning the model with the removal of non-significant variables revealed a full mediation of health-related metacognition, cognitive bias, and emotion dysregulation in the relation between personality traits (neuroticism and extraversion) and cyberchondria. Fit indices demonstrated the acceptable fit of the model with the collected data (χ² = 979.24, p <.001; NFI = 0.92, CFI = 0.93, GFI = 0.90, IFI = 0.93, RMSEA = 0.071, and SRMR = 0.063). The results indicated that the present model could explain R² = 54% of cyberchondria variance. Discussion These findings suggest that health-related metacognition, cognitive bias, and emotion dysregulation could demonstrate a full mediating role in the correlation between personality traits and cyberchondria.
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Abstract Individuals frequently use the Internet to search for medical information. For some individuals, repeated searches for medical information on the Internet exacerbate health anxiety. Researchers have termed this phenomenon "cyberchondria" and have suggested that cyberchondria might relate to the excessive use of the Internet for other purposes as well. The present study examined associations among Internet searches for medical information, health anxiety, and problematic Internet use (PIU) using a large sample of medically healthy community adults located in the United States (N=430). As predicted, respondents who experienced increased health anxiety following Internet searches for medical information reported significantly greater PIU than respondents for whom such searches either had no impact on or decreased their health anxiety. This effect was not attributable to the frequency of health-related online searching behavior or negative affect. Conceptual and therapeutic implications are discussed.
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Cyberchondria is a form of anxiety characterised by excessive online health research. It may lead to increased levels of psychological distress, worry, and unnecessary medical expenses. The aim of the present study was to develop a psychometrically sound measure of this dimension. A sample of undergraduate students (N = 208; 64% female) completed a pilot version of the Cyberchondria Severity Scale (CSS) along with the short form version of the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21). Exploratory factor analysis identified a correlated five factor structure that were labelled ‘Compulsion’, ‘Distress’, ‘Excessiveness’, ‘Reassurance Seeking’ and ‘Mistrust of Medical Professional’. The CSS demonstrated good psychometric properties; the subscales had high internal consistency, along with good concurrent and convergent validity. The CSS may prove useful in a wide variety of future research activities. It may also facilitate the development and validation of interventions for cyberchondria.
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The common approach to the multiplicity problem calls for controlling the familywise error rate (FWER). This approach, though, has faults, and we point out a few. A different approach to problems of multiple significance testing is presented. It calls for controlling the expected proportion of falsely rejected hypotheses – the false discovery rate. This error rate is equivalent to the FWER when all hypotheses are true but is smaller otherwise. Therefore, in problems where the control of the false discovery rate rather than that of the FWER is desired, there is potential for a gain in power. A simple sequential Bonferroni-type procedure is proved to control the false discovery rate for independent test statistics, and a simulation study shows that the gain in power is substantial. The use of the new procedure and the appropriateness of the criterion are illustrated with examples.
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The World Wide Web provides an abundant source of medical information. This information can assist people who are not healthcare professionals to better understand health and disease, and to provide them with feasible explanations for symptoms. However, the Web has the potential to increase the anxieties of people who have little or no medical training, especially when Web search is employed as a diagnostic procedure. We use the term cyberchondria to refer to the unfounded escalation of concerns about common symptomatology, based on the review of search results and literature on the Web. We performed a large-scale, longitudinal, log-based study of how people search for medical information online, supported by a large-scale survey of 515 individuals' health-related search experiences. We focused on the extent to which common, likely innocuous symptoms can escalate into the review of content on serious, rare conditions that are linked to the common symptoms. Our results show that Web search engines have the potential to escalate medical concerns. We show that escalation is influenced by the amount and distribution of medical content viewed by users, the presence of escalatory terminology in pages visited, and a user's predisposition to escalate versus to seek more reasonable explanations for ailments. We also demonstrate the persistence of post-session anxiety following escalations and the effect that such anxieties can have on interrupting user's activities across multiple sessions. Our findings underscore the potential costs and challenges of cyberchondria and suggest actionable design implications that hold opportunity for improving the search and navigation experience for people turning to the Web to interpret common symptoms.
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McElroy and Shevlin (2014) developed the 33-item Cyberchondria Severity Scale (CSS) to allow for a multidimensional assessment of cyberchondria (compulsion, distress, excessiveness, reassurance, and mistrust of medical professional). The present study evaluated psychometric properties of the CSS, including its factor structure, internal consistency, convergent validity, and incremental validity, using a large sample of community adults located in the United States (N = 539). Results from a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) supported the adequacy of the five-factor structure of the CSS. However, results from a higher-order CFA indicated that the mistrust of medical professional factor does not assess the same construct as the other factors of the CSS. The CSS scales evidenced adequate internal consistency and significantly correlated with health anxiety. The distress, excessiveness, and mistrust of medical professional scales correlated significantly more strongly with health anxiety than obsessive-compulsive symptoms and these three scales were the only CSS scales to share unique variance with health anxiety. Implications of these results for future research are discussed.
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Abstract Individuals frequently use the Internet to search for medical information. However, for some individuals, searching for medical information on the Internet is associated with an exacerbation of health anxiety. Researchers have termed this phenomenon as cyberchondria. The present research sought to shed further light onto the phenomenology of cyberchondria. In particular, the moderating effect of intolerance of uncertainty (IU) on the relationship between the frequency of Internet searches for medical information and health anxiety was examined using a large sample of medically healthy community adults located in the United States (N=512). The purported moderating effect of IU was supported. More specifically, the relationship between the frequency of Internet searches for medical information and health anxiety grew increasingly stronger as IU increased. This moderating effect of IU was not attributable to general distress. These results suggest that IU is important for better understanding the exacerbation of health anxiety in response to Internet searches for medical information. Conceptual and therapeutic implications of these results are discussed.
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A number of models of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) stress the role of beliefs in the development of symptoms. However, they differ as to which beliefs they consider central. These beliefs fall into two categories-cognitive and metacognitive. The current study compared the relative contribution of cognition and metacognition as prospective predictors of obsessive-compulsive symptoms. We used measures of cognitive beliefs derived from cognitive theories of OCD (e.g., Salkovskis, 1985) a measure of metacognition derived from Wells' metacognitive model (Wells, A., 1997), and another metacognitive measure that draws from several models of OCD (e.g., Rachman, 1997). We controlled for worry and beliefs concerning overestimation of threat. Thought-fusion, a metacognitive belief implicated in Wells' model, emerged as an independent prospective predictor of O-C symptoms but other beliefs did not. The results add to a growing database supporting the metacognitive model.
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Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) is a relatively new website that contains the major elements required to conduct research: an integrated participant compensation system; a large participant pool; and a streamlined process of study design, participant recruitment, and data collection. In this article, we describe and evaluate the potential contributions of MTurk to psychology and other social sciences. Findings indicate that (a) MTurk participants are slightly more demographically diverse than are standard Internet samples and are significantly more diverse than typical American college samples; (b) participation is affected by compensation rate and task length, but participants can still be recruited rapidly and inexpensively; (c) realistic compensation rates do not affect data quality; and (d) the data obtained are at least as reliable as those obtained via traditional methods. Overall, MTurk can be used to obtain high-quality data inexpensively and rapidly. © The Author(s) 2011.
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Several instruments have been designed to measure problems associated with excessive, compulsive, or addictive use of the Internet. One such instrument, the 18-item Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire, was recently published with data supporting a three subscale model (Demetrovics et al., 2008). These researches utilized an online format with a sample taken from the general population of Hungary. We utilized an American college student sample and a paper and pencil format to perform a confirmatory factor analysis of the PIUQ. In addition, we examined the reliability and construct validity of the PIUQ by examining the scales’ relationship with several indices of psychological and physical health. CFA results indicate a barely adequate and not completely problem free three factor model for the PIUQ (χ2 = 477.40; root mean square error = .097; comparative fit index = .831; Tucker Lewis coefficient = .804). Cronbach’s α for the total scale was .91 while the Cronbach’s α for each subscale were .81, .77, and .79. Construct validity for the model is demonstrated with significant correlations between the subscales and several indices of psychological and physical health. Suggestions for further research are provided.