The Illness Perception Questionnaire as a reliable assessment tool: Cognitive representations of vitiligo

Abstract

Vitiligo is an episodic condition with uncertain aetiology, therefore the labeling and, in turn, beliefs about the nature of the condition are less likely to be based on substantive medical knowledge and more on cognitive representations which the patients develop. As such, a reliable measure of these representations could be very useful in understanding how vitiligo patients interpret their condition. The present study examines the internal consistency of the Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ; Weinman et al. , 1996) sub-scales with respect to its usefulness as a reliable measure of these cognitive representations of illness among vitiligo patients. Nine hundred and twenty-two usable questionnaires were returned from UK Vitiligo Society members and a reliability analysis was carried out on SPSS for Windows for each of the four sub-scales and the symptom scale. The symptom scale and every sub-scale showed high internal consistency when completed by vitiligo patients. Results suggest that the IPQ is a reliable assessment tool for the cognitive representations of illness of vitiligo patients. The questionnaire could be very useful for health care professionals. The IPQ would also allow the investigation of sociodemographic variance with respect to vitiligo populations.