Assessing sickness behavior in the French: Validation of the French translation of the sickness questionnaire (SicknessQ) in a non-clinical French population

Anna Andreasson; Arnaud Tognetti; Mike Jones; Mats Lekander; Julie Lasselin

Brain, Behavior, & Immunity - Health (Dec 2023)

Assessing sickness behavior in the French: Validation of the French translation of the sickness questionnaire (SicknessQ) in a non-clinical French population

Anna Andreasson,
Arnaud Tognetti,
Mike Jones,
Mats Lekander,
Julie Lasselin

Affiliations

Anna Andreasson: Stress Research Institute, Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden; Division of Psychology, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW, Australia
Arnaud Tognetti: Division of Psychology, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; CEE-M, CNRS, INRAE, Institut Agro, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France
Mike Jones: Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW, Australia
Mats Lekander: Stress Research Institute, Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden; Division of Psychology, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Osher Center for Integrative Health, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
Julie Lasselin: Stress Research Institute, Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden; Division of Psychology, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Osher Center for Integrative Health, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Corresponding author. Stress Research Institute, Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.

Journal volume & issue: Vol. 34
p. 100708

Abstract

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The Sickness Questionnaire (SicknessQ) is a questionnaire developed to assess symptoms of sickness behavior, including somatic, behavioral, and affective dimensions. To promote cross-cultural assessments of sickness behavior, we aim to expand the use of this questionnaire to other populations and languages. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the French translation of SicknessQ in a French-speaking general population during the COVID-19 pandemic. One hundred and thirty-nine individuals completed the SicknessQ online, along with the construct criteria measures of self-rated health, state anxiety (STAI-S), and depressive symptoms (PHQ-9). The principal component analyses revealed two components: the first component included seven items concerning mood, motivation and experiences of fatigue and pain; the second component included three items concerning somatic sickness symptoms. Higher scores on the total scale and the two component subscales were associated with poorer self-rated health and higher STAI-S and PHQ-9 scores. Since the associations with construct criteria variables were relatively similar between the single- and the two-dimensional solutions, both the total scale and the subscales of the two components of the French SicknessQ can be used in future studies to measure sickness behavior in French-speaking populations.

Published in Brain, Behavior, & Immunity - Health

ISSN: 2666-3546 (Online)
Publisher: Elsevier
Country of publisher: United States
LCC subjects: Medicine: Internal medicine: Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry
Website: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/brain-behavior-and-immunity-health

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