Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Attitudes Associated with Hypochondria and Abnormal Behavior Towards Illness in Health Science Students

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Psychiatric Quarterly Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate attitudes towards the disease and its association with the presence of hypochondria in students of the health sciences area. The research was developed in 279 students in the health science area, with the application of Short Health Anxiety Inventory (SHAI) test and the Illness Attitude Scale (IAS) test was performed, and the descriptive, comparative and association statistical analyses were carried out. All students answered the previously mention surveys. Values above Cut-off ≥27 were obtained in the SHAI test was 6.8% (n = 19), and the percentage of students with values ≥50 Cut-off in the test of IAS was 15.7% (n = 44). IAS subtests involving an increase in the SHAI value are IAS for the disease (W), hypochondria beliefs (HB), body concerns (BP), treatment experiences (TE), and effect of symptoms (ES) with regression values of S = 3.9 with a square R adjusted to 64.9%. Therefore, according to the surveys used, a considerable sample of students showed abnormal behaviors towards the disease associated with the hypochondria, so it is important to continue monitoring students to reduce these factors.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. American Psychiatric Association (APA). Somatoform disorders. In: Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders DSM-IV-TR Barcelona: Masson; 2012. p. 476.

  2. Soreff S. Fast five quiz: are you prepared to treat patients with illness anxiety disorder? In: Medscape; 2018. https://reference.medscape.com/viewarticle/895692. Accessed 27 May 2019.

  3. Secretaría de Salud. Conoce qué es el trastorno de somatización. In: Secretaría de Salud; 2018. https://www.gob.mx/salud/articulos/conoce-que-es-el-trastorno-de-somatizacion. Accessed 27 May 2018.

  4. Mayorga DJ. Preocupaciones hipocondríacas y su relación con la formación en estudiantes de medicina iniciales, intermedios y avanzados de la Universidad Técnica de Ambato en el período Marzo-Julio 2011. Universidad Técnica de Ambato; 2012. http://repositorio.uta.edu.ec/bitstream/123456789/7156/1/Diego%20Javier%20Mayorga%20Ortix.pdf. Accessed 29 May 2018.

  5. Silva R. Ideas hipocondríacas y los niveles de ansiedad en los médicos residentes, internos rotativos y pasantes de medicina del Hospital Provincial Docente Ambato en el período Enero-Julio del año 2013. Universidad Técnica de Ambato; 2015. http://repositorio.uta.edu.ec/bitstream/123456789/9283/1/Silva%20Quintana%2c%20Rafael%20Alejandro.pdf. Accessed 19 July 2018.

  6. Pastorelli VR, González BS, Campoy TA, Carballeda MJ, González J. Caso Clínico: Trastorno Hipocondríaco. Revista Psiquiatría.com. 2011;15:61.

  7. Dyrbye LN, Matthew TR, Tait SD. Medical student distress: causes, consequences, and proposed solutions. Mayo Clin Proc. 2005;80(12):1613–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Moir F, Yielder J, Sanson J, Chen Y. Depression in medical students: current insights. Adv Med Educ Pract. 2018;9:323–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Zahid MF, Haque A, Aslam M, Aleem NA, Hussain S, Fahad H, et al. Health-related anxiety and hypochondriacal concerns in medical students: a cross-sectional study from Pakistan. Teach Learn Med. 2016;28:252–9. https://doi.org/10.1080/10401334.2016.1155459.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Watson WE, Minzenmayer T, Bowler M. Type a personality characteristics and the effect on individual and team academic performance. J Appl Soc Psychol. 2006;36(5):1110–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Thiemann P, Quince T, Benson J, Wood D, Barclay S. Medical students’ death anxiety: severity and association with psychological health and attitudes toward palliative care. J Pain Symptom Manag. 2015;50(3):335–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Salkovskis P, Rimes K, Warwick H, Clark D. The health anxiety inventory: development and validation of scales for the measurement of health anxiety and hypochondriasis. Psychol Med. 2002;32(5):843–53. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291702005822.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Commons D, Greenwood KM, Anderson RA. A preliminary investigation into worry about mental health: development of the mental health anxiety inventory. Behav Cogn Psychoth. 2016;44:347–60. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1352465815000454.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Hedman E, Lekander M, Ljótsson B, Lindefors N, Rück C, Andersson G, et al. Optimal cut-off points on the health anxiety inventory, illness attitude scales and Whiteley Index to identify severe health anxiety. PLoS One. 2015;10(4):e0123412. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0123412.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  15. Sirri L, Grandi S, Fava GA. The illness attitude scales. Psychother Psychosom. 2008;77:337–50. https://doi.org/10.1159/000151387.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Weck F, Bleichhardt G, Hiller W. Screening for hypochondriasis with the illness attitude scales. J Per Assess. 2010;92:260–8. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223891003670216.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Bravo IM, Arrufat O. The illness attitude scales: adaptation and translation into Spanish for use with older adults. J Appl Gerontol. 2005;24:355–71. https://doi.org/10.1177/0733464805278133.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Salkovskis PM, Oliver DH. Health anxiety in medical students. Res Lett. 1998;351:1332. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(05)79059-0.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Azuri J, Ackshota N, Vinker S. Reassuring the medical students’ disease – health related anxiety among medical students. Med Teach. 2010;32:e270–5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Phinder ME, Sánchez A, Romero F, Vizcarra J, Sánchez EA. Percepción sobre factores estresantes en estudiantes de Medicina de primer semestre, sus padres y sus maestros. Inv Ed Med. 2014;3(11):139–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Cabanach RG, Souto-Gestal A, Franco V. Escala de Estresores Académicos para la evaluación de los estresores académicos en estudiantes universitarios. Revista Iberoamericana de Psicología y Salud. 2016;7:41–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Rojas Bolivara D, Arroyo Ramíreza FA, Santosa J, Moruquilca J, Valdivia C. Percepción del ambiente educacional de los estudiantes de medicina de una universidad pública peruana en el año 2014. Educ Med. 2019;20(S1):110–4.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Martínez MC, Muñoz G, Rojas K, Sánchez JA. Prevalencia de síntomas depresivos en estudiantes de la licenciatura en Medicina de Puebla, México. Aten Fam. 2016;23(4):145–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Sánchez C, Chichón J, Leon F, Alipazaga P. Trastornos mentales en estudiantes de medicina humana en tres universidades de Lambayeque. Perú Rev Neuropsiquiatr. 2016;79(4):197–206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Reyes C, Monterrosas AM, Navarrete A, Acosta EP, Torruco U. Ansiedad de los estudiantes de una facultad de medicina mexicana, antes de iniciar el internado. Inv Ed Med. 2017;6(21):42–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Lemos M, Henao M, López DC. Estrés y Salud Mental en Estudiantes de Medicina: Relación con Afrontamiento y Actividades Extracurriculares. Archivos de Medicina. 2018;14(2:3):1–8.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Althagafi SS, AlSufyani MH, Shawky OA, Afifi OK, Alomairi N, Masoodi I. The health anxiety in medical students, a comparative study from Taif University: Medical student’s syndrome revisited. BJMP. 2019;12(1):a003.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Moutier C. Physician mental health: an evidence-based approach to change. J Med Regul. 2018;104(2):7–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Sciolla FA, Wilkes SM, Griffin JE. Adverse childhood experiences in medical students: implications for wellness. Acad Psychiatr. 2019;43:369–74. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-019-01047-5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Holoshitz Y, Brodsky B, Zisook S, Bernanke J, Stanley B. Application of the zero suicide model in residency training. Acad Psychiatr. 2019;43:332–6. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-019-01022-0.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the population of students who participated in this study.

Authorship Principles

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Eduardo Ichikawa Escamilla, Luis Alonso Elias Ortiz, Jesús Emanuel Aguiñaga Pargas and Andrea Maciel Martinez, The first draft of the manuscript was written by Eduardo Ichikawa Escamilla and Joel Jiménez Villarreal. All authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Investigación, Escuela de Medicina Unidad Norte, Universidad Autonoma de Coahuila, Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico

    Eduardo Ichikawa Escamilla, Luis Alonso Elias Ortiz, Jesús Emanuel Aguiñaga Pargas, Andrea Maciel Martinez, Beatriz Adriana Lozoya Botello, Victor Daniel Boone Villa & Joel Jiménez Villarreal

  2. Consulta Externa de Psiquiatria, Hospital General Dr. Salvador Chavarria Sanchez, Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico

    Beatriz Adriana Lozoya Botello

Authors
  1. Eduardo Ichikawa Escamilla
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Luis Alonso Elias Ortiz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jesús Emanuel Aguiñaga Pargas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Andrea Maciel Martinez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Beatriz Adriana Lozoya Botello
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Victor Daniel Boone Villa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Joel Jiménez Villarreal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joel Jiménez Villarreal.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Ethical Considerations

All participants signed an informed consent letter.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

According to; A Graduate Student’s Guide to Determining Authorship Credit and Authorship Order; APA Science Student Council, 2006. This work is part of the thesis work of the first author and the following three co-authors

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Escamilla, E.I., Ortiz, L.A.E., Pargas, J.E.A. et al. Attitudes Associated with Hypochondria and Abnormal Behavior Towards Illness in Health Science Students. Psychiatr Q 91, 921–928 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11126-020-09761-2

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11126-020-09761-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation