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Self-concealment among couples who cope with chronic illness: development and preliminary validation of the Couples Illness Self-Concealment (CISC) questionnaire

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Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study was to develop and assess the psychometric characteristics of a new brief self-report measure, which evaluates self-concealment behavior in the context of couples coping with chronic illness.

Methods

The Couples Illness Self-Concealment (CISC) scale was developed, emphasizing the active process involved in self-concealment. It was then tested among 56 cancer patients and partners of cancer patients. Correlations and multiple regression analysis were used to assess the internal consistency reliability and validity of the scale.

Results

Psychometric evaluation of the CISC final version, which includes 13 items, provides evidence that the scale has high internal consistency reliability. The findings support the construct validity of the scale, examined by both convergent validity and between group differences (patients vs. spouses).

Conclusions

The CISC scale has acceptable psychometric qualities, internal consistency reliability and validity. The use of CISC may assist in revealing important aspects of couple’s illness communication patterns, and enable examination of possible links between self-concealment behavior in the context of illness, and psychological outcome. It may also contribute to the assessment of interventions aimed at enhancing communication between partners coping with chronic illness.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the medical and psychosocial staff at the oncology unit of Chaim Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer for their assistance in the recruitment of participants. We also thank Prof. Eshkol Rafaeli, Dr. Noa Vilchinsky, Prof. Shmuel Shulman, and Dr. Michal Braun for their constructive comments during the experts’ validity process.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

    Reut Wertheim & Ilanit Hasson-Ohayon

  2. Department of Health Systems Management, Max Stern Academic College of Emek Yezreel, Emek Yezreel, Israel

    Michal Mashiach-Eizenberg

  3. Chaim Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer, Ramat Gan, Israel

    Noam Pizem & Einat Shacham-Shmueli

  4. The School of Behavioral Sciences, The Academic College of Tel-Aviv, Yaffo, Israel

    Gil Goldzweig

Authors
  1. Reut Wertheim
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  2. Ilanit Hasson-Ohayon
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  3. Michal Mashiach-Eizenberg
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  4. Noam Pizem
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  5. Einat Shacham-Shmueli
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  6. Gil Goldzweig
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Reut Wertheim.

Ethics declarations

The study protocol was approved by the IRB-Helsinki committee of the participating hospital. Participants who agreed to participate in the study initially signed an informed consent form.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Appendix

Appendix

Table 5 CISC (final version—13 items).
Full size table

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Wertheim, R., Hasson-Ohayon, I., Mashiach-Eizenberg, M. et al. Self-concealment among couples who cope with chronic illness: development and preliminary validation of the Couples Illness Self-Concealment (CISC) questionnaire. Support Care Cancer 24, 4951–4959 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-016-3354-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-016-3354-4

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