Development of a new Fear of Hypoglycemia Scale: FH-15.

• DOI: 10.1037/a0021927
• Publication Date: 2011-03-08T11:31:09Z
• Authors: María Teresa Anar...; Francisco Félix C...; María Soledad Rui...; Rosa María Rondán; Mónica Carreira; Marta Domínguez-L...; Alberto Machado; Montserrat Gonzal...; María José Tapia; Sergio Valdés; Stella González-R...; Federico C. Soriguer
• Keywords: Concurrent validity

Hypoglycemia is the most common adverse event associated with insulin treatment in diabetes. The consequences of hypoglycemia can be quite aversive and potentially life threatening. physical sequelae provide ample reason for patients to fear avoid episodes. For these reasons, our purpose this study was develop a new measure that explores specific (FH) adult type 1 diabetes examine its psychometric properties. instrument developed assess FH initially made up 20 items, which 18 were negative 2 positive, assessed on 5-point Likert scale (1-5). This completed by 229 Additionally, structured interview closed question called subjective included as diagnostic criteria. A factor analysis employing principal-components method promax rotation carried out, resulting composed 15 items. Three factors (fear, avoidance, interference) obtained explained 58.27% variance. showed good internal consistency (Cronbach's α = .891) test-retest reliability (r .908, p < .001), well adequate concurrent predictive validity. cutoff score provided highest overall sensitivity specificity set at 28 points. Fear 15-item (FH-15) demonstrated suggests may serve valuable use research clinical practice.