WHAT DOES THE HEALTH CONCERN QUESTIONNAIRE REALLY TELL US?

Abstract

BACKGROUND:The literature suggests that stress is associated with illness, especially among older adults. The PURPOSE of the study was to assess if there is an association between health concerns and life stress among college students. A purpose was also to develop a shorter version of the scale and to develop calculations for a single score. METHODS: Health concerns as measured by the"Health Concern Questionnaire," and life stress, as measured by the "Social Readjustment Rating Scale” was used.The sample included 306 students enrolled in personal health classes during the academic year 1977-1978. RESULTS: correlation between the top 12 items of concern and the total instrument was found to be quite high (r=.94). However, Only a slight positive correlation between the short and full version of the "Health Concern Questionnaire" and the “Social Readjustment Rating Scale” (r=.20) was found (P <.001).CONCLUSION: The 12 item shortened version only takes 5 minutes to complete, including the calculations of the "Total Concern Score" which makes is useful for class administration to detrmine how concerned students are about general health matters.