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Validating the Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire as a Measure of Parent Perceptions of Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Abstract

The illness perception questionnaire (IPQ) and its revision (IPQ-R) measure perceptions about health-related diagnoses and the influence of cognitions on coping. In this study, the factor structure of a version revised for use with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was investigated with a sample of parents (n = 361) whose children have ASD. Subsequently, multidimensional item response theory was used to evaluate item and subscale properties. Results indicated items from five of the seven IPQ-R-ASD scales loaded as expected, though subscales related to control were not distinct. Additionally, parents’ response patterns were evaluated and discussed. Use of this measure in ASD-focused research may enhance understanding of how parents’ cognitions of their child’s ASD impacts treatment selection, treatment implementation, and overall family well-being.

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Notes

  1. We conducted preliminary descriptive and factor analyses on four groups in which: (1) parents from the mother/father pairs were selected as described above, (2) parents from the mother/father pairs not selected for the first group were selected for the second group, (3) only the mothers of the parent pairs were selected, and (3) only the father of the parent pairs were selected. The results of the analyses where similar (e.g., identical factor structure with similar loadings). Therefore, we opted to conduct all analyses on the sample as described above to be as representative of parent sex and parent participation (i.e., from families where both parents participated and families where only one parent participated) as possible.

  2. Mplus does not report SRMR for CFA using WLSMV.

  3. The actual statement from the IPQ-R-ASD is “My child’s ASD doesn’t make sense to me.” This item was reverse coded so a response of “agree” is the same as “disagree” to the positively reworded statement above.

  4. This item is reverse coded as described in Footnote 3.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by a small grant, New Faculty Research Program, from the University of Houston. We are grateful to all of the families at the participating Simons Simplex Collection (SSC) sites, as well as the principal investigators (A. Beaudet, R. Bernier, J. Constantino, E. Cook, E. Fombonne, D. Geschwind, R. Goin-Kochel, E. Hanson, D. Grice, (A) Klin, D. Ledbetter, C. Lord, C. Martin, D. Martin, R. Maxim, J. Miles, O. Ousley, K. Pelphrey, (B) Peterson, J. Piggot, (C) Saulnier, M. State, W. Stone, J. Sutcliffe, C. Walsh, Z. Warren, E. Wijsman). We are particularly grateful for the generosity of parents who participated in the current study. We appreciate the assistance of the SSC@IAN in recontacting SSC families for recruitment in this project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychological, Health, and Learning Sciences, University of Houston, 3657 Cullen Blvd., Room 491, Houston, TX, 77204-5029, USA

    Sarah S. Mire, Christie M. Brewton, Natalie S. Raff & Shannon L. McKee

  2. Department of Psychology, Texas Institute for Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistics (TIMES), University of Houston, 4849 Calhoun Rd, Room 373, Houston, TX, 77204, USA

    Tammy D. Tolar

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  1. Sarah S. Mire
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Contributions

SSM contributed to Study Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Original Draft, Review & Editing, Funding Acquisition. TDT contributed to Methodology, Formal Analysis, Original Draft, Review & Editing. CMB contributed to Investigation, Original Draft. NSR contributed to Investigation, Original Draft. SLM contributed to Investigation, Review & Editing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Sarah S. Mire.

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Mire, S.S., Tolar, T.D., Brewton, C.M. et al. Validating the Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire as a Measure of Parent Perceptions of Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 48, 1761–1779 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3442-4

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