Date Presented 04/04/2025
The Stroke-Specific Illness Perceptions Questionnaire–Revised (S–SIPQ–R) assesses illness perceptions of individuals with stroke. This new tool demonstrates good reliability and validity. The S–SIPQ–R could aid OTPs practitioners in tailoring interventions to promote healthy behaviors and effective self-management.
Primary Author and Speaker: Yun Shi
Additional Authors and Speakers: Chia-Yang Chiang, Tsu-Hsin Howe
PURPOSE: Chronic conditions often require lifestyle changes and ongoing management for optimal recovery. The Common-Sense Self-Regulation Model (Hagger & Orbell, 2022) suggests individuals form illness perceptions that influence their behaviors and self-management strategies (Shi et al., 2023). This study aims to test the preliminary psychometric properties of the Stroke-Specific Illness Perceptions Questionnaire–Revised (S-S IPQ–R) that can be used to measure the illness perceptions of individuals with stroke.
DESIGN/METHOD: We adapted the original IPQ-R with permission, creating English and Chinese versions of the S-S IPQ-R. The modifications included common stroke symptoms and causes, informed by Aujla’s work (2020). A two-step approach was employed: 1) A multidisciplinary panel of 21 healthcare professionals fluent in Mandarin and English reviewed the S-S IPQ-R for content validity; 2) For internal consistency, the S-S IPQ-R was administered to 202 community-dwelling individuals in Beijing, China, who had experienced a mild-to-moderate stroke within the past 6–24 months. Participants were aged 50 or older and free from depression or dementia.
RESULTS: The expert panel achieved consensus (>90% agreement) on the content validity of the S-S IPQ-R. Items with lower than 90% agreement underwent revision based on expert suggestions, resulting in a final version. Internal consistency analysis revealed good reliability for all subscales, with Cronbach’s α ranging from 0.65 to 0.93.
CONCLUSION: The S-S IPQ-R demonstrates promise as a reliable and valid tool for assessing illness perceptions in individuals with stroke. This information is crucial for healthcare professionals, as it can guide the development of targeted interventions. By understanding individuals’ illness perceptions, OT practitioners can tailor strategies to promote healthy behaviors and empower effective self-management, ultimately improving stroke prevention, recovery, and overall well-being.
References
Shi, Y., Howe, T. H., & Wu, B. (2023). Impact of Illness Perceptions on Poststroke Activity Engagement and the Moderating Role of Gender. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 77(5), 7705205020. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2023.050155
Liu, Y., Wei, M., Guo, L., Guo, Y., Zhu, Y., & He, Y. (2021). Association between illness perception and health behaviour among stroke patients: The mediation effect of coping style. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 77(5), 2307–2318. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.14761
Aujla, N., Walker, M., Sprigg, N., & Vedhara, K. (2020). Do individual versus illness belief schema differ in the prediction of post-stroke recovery? Journal of Health Psychology, 25(13-14), 2118–2128. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105318785446
Hagger, M. S., & Orbell, S. (2022). The common sense model of illness self-regulation: a conceptual review and proposed extended model. Health psychology review, 16(3), 347–377. https://doi.org/10.1080/17437199.2021.1878050
