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Development and validation of the Illness Behavior Inventory

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Abstract

The development and validation of a measure of illness behavior are presented. From a large domain sample of illness-related behaviors, a 20-item self-report measure was developed, the Illness Behavior Inventory (IBI). Validation data are presented from a series of independent studies with healthy and chronically ill individuals. Results indicate that the IBI possesses acceptable levels of internal consistency, test-retest reliability, structural reliability, discriminant validity, concurrent validity, and predictive validity. The applicability of the IBI to various areas of inquiry in behavioral medicine research and practice is discussed and directions for future research are outlined.

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This work was supported in part by two grants from the National Institutes of Health: Biomedical Research Support Grant 2S07-RR7201-03, Division of Research Resources, and National Institute of Arthritis, Metabolism and Digestive Diseases Grant P60-AM20543. The authors gratefully acknowledge contributions to the present project by Barbara Adair, Katie Dowlan, Alan Graber, Barrie Guise, David Guy, Stephanie Hanson, Rod Lorenz, John McRae, Diane Noskin, Jim Pichert, Anne Turner, Ken Williamson, and the rest of the clinic staff at the Vanderbilt University Diabetes Research and Training Center.

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Turkat, I.D., Pettegrew, L.S. Development and validation of the Illness Behavior Inventory. Journal of Behavioral Assessment 5, 35–47 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01343637

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