Health Consciousness vs. Disease. Polish Adaptation of the Health Consciousness Scale by Ch.S.Hu

Abstract Introduction: Health consciousness is a theoretical construct that, depending on the concept, constitutes a psychological structure expressed primarily in the cognitive and behavioural sphere. It determines how individuals respond to health issues and the extent to which they are ready to take action to improve them. The level of health consciousness in the patient and his/her family has an impact on the achieved therapeutic effects. Due to the lack of an analogous tool for testing health consciousness in the Polish literature on this subject, the research objective was to create a Polish adaptation of the Ch.S.Hu Health Consciousness Scale and determine its psychometric properties. Material and methods: The study covered 599 people. Out of their group, a sample (N=291) was randomly drawn in order to conduct an exploratory factor analysis and determine the level of the reliability of the tool. The model was verified by a confirmatory factor analysis (N=599). HCS validity measures were based on the analysis of intergroup differences and correlations between selected variables. Results: The Polish version received a five-factor structure, containing 24 items. Both the entire scale and almost all subscales have a very high reliability coefficient (α=0.80). Medical professionals/persons with medical education achieve significantly higher results in HCS than other respondents. Conclusions: Conclusions. The Polish version of HCS has very good psychometric properties. This means that the tool is reliable and accurate. It can be used in both scientific research and individual diagnosis.