Cognitive and metacognitive factors in predicting health anxiety

The aim of the present study was to explore the role of metacognitive beliefs and dysfuncitonal beliefs in predicting health anxiety symptoms. A two-stage research plan was adapted to achieve this main aim. In the first study, the psychometric properties of the Metacognitions about Health Questionnaire (MCQ-HA) were evaluated in a sample of 631 participants. The Turkish form of the scale was found to be valid and reliable. In the second study, the associations among metacognitive beliefs, dysfuncitonal beliefs and health anxiety symptoms were examined in a sample of 436 participants. The instruments were the Personal Information Form, Metacognitions about Health Questionnaire, Health Cognitions Questionnaire, Short form of Health Anxiety Inventory and Eysenck Personality Questionnaire‑Revised: Short Form. The results of the correlation analysis indicated that metacognitive beliefs, dysfunctional beliefs and neuroticism were positively associated with health anxiety. The hierarchical regression analysis conducted to test the main hypothesis of the study showed that metacognitive beliefs explained a significant proportion of variance in health anxiety, when demographic variables, neuroticism and health-related dysfunctional beliefs were controlled for. In addition, difficulty in coping with illness dimension of dysfunctional beliefs about health was found to be the strongest significant predictor of health anxiety. Results of the study were discussed in the light of relevant literature.