Jul 2026· Journal of Psychology and Social Sciences· Vol 4, pp. 245-249· 0 citations· 10 references
TL;DR
The findings suggest that the HAI is a reliable and culturally relevant instrument suitable for assessing health anxiety among adults and may be useful in psychological assessment, counseling interventions, public mental health screening, and behavioral medicine research.
Abstract
Health anxiety has emerged as a major psychological concern in contemporary society due to increased exposure to online medical information, heightened awareness of diseases, and rapid dissemination of health-related content through digital media. Existing measures assessing health anxiety are predominantly developed within Western cultural contexts and may inadequately capture culturally specific illness beliefs and health-related behaviors observed among Indian adults. The present study aimed to develop and validate the Health Anxiety Inventory (HAI), a culturally grounded multidimensional instrument designed to assess health anxiety among adults. The scale was developed based on cognitive-behavioral and socio-cultural theoretical frameworks. An initial pool of 30 items across six dimensions was generated through literature review, expert consultation, and analysis of socio-cultural health beliefs. The dimensions included Anticipatory Health Worry, Bodily Sensation Monitoring, Catastrophic Interpretation, Reassurance Seeking and Healthcare Utilisation, Functional Impairment and Avoidance, and Socio-Cultural Health Beliefs. The inventory was administered to 183 college students selected through convenience sampling. Reliability analysis revealed excellent internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = .912). Item-total correlations ranged from .32 to .68, indicating satisfactory construct representation. Expert evaluations supported content validity, while theoretical coherence and statistical findings supported construct validity. The findings suggest that the HAI is a reliable and culturally relevant instrument suitable for assessing health anxiety among adults. The inventory may be useful in psychological assessment, counseling interventions, public mental health screening, and behavioral medicine research.
Poor SRH and chronic disease were associated with anxiety, depression, and their comorbidity among residents, and MHL had an independent protective and partial mediating role in these associations and was negatively associated with three psychological outcomes.
Deliang Kong, Jiyuan Zhong, Yong Li et al.· Scientific Reports· 0 citations
Depression and anxiety disorders are among the most prevalent and debilitating mental health conditions worldwide, imposing substantial personal, social, and economic burdens. Although recent advances in Large Language Models (LLMs) have shown promise in supporting mental health assessment and intervention, existing approaches often lack contextual awareness, real-time adaptability, and privacy-preserving personalization. To address these limitations, we propose a novel, context-aware and privacy-preserving mental health evaluation architecture that synergistically integrates LLM-driven intelligence. The proposed system enables personalized, continuous, and stigma-free mental health support by combining structured multiple-choice questionnaires with advanced language models, including GPT-3.5-turbo and Groq, to analyze user inputs, identify behavioral patterns, and predict potential mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety. Furthermore, the platform provides individualized recommendations, including self-care strategies, lifestyle adjustments, mindfulness practices, and referrals to healthcare professionals when appropriate. Recognizing the critical importance of reliability in sensitive healthcare settings, we introduce an ensemble-based aggregation framework that explicitly incorporates classification confidence and uncertainty quantification across multiple LLMs. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach outperforms existing LLM models. By prioritizing user anonymity and data privacy, the proposed system reduces psychological barriers to seeking mental health support and promotes early intervention.
Jashraj Jani, Sara Akif, Wassila Lalouani· International Conference on...· 0 citations
Mental health is an essential component of overall well-being, influencing how individuals think, feel, cope with stress, and interact with others. Despite increasing global awareness, mental health stigma continues to remain a major public health concern, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, where misconceptions, discrimination, and limited access to care discourage individuals from seeking professional support. This study aimed to assess mental health awareness and stigma among residents of Shankharapur Municipality, Kathmandu, Nepal, and to identify barriers to mental health care as well as possible strategies to reduce stigma within the community. A cross-sectional descriptive mixedmethod research design was employed among 105 respondents selected through simple random sampling from Ward No. 6. Data were collected through structured questionnaires and face-to-face interviews and analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. The findings revealed that respondents generally possessed a good level of mental health awareness, with many recognizing the importance of mental health and acknowledging that mental illness can affect anyone. However, stigmatizing attitudes and misconceptions remained prevalent, including beliefs that mental illness is associated with danger, personal weakness, and shame. Major barriers to accessing mental health support included lack of awareness, social stigma, fear of judgment, family influence, and poor communication. Despite these challenges, respondents expressed positive attitudes toward recovery and social inclusion of individuals with mental illness. The study concludes that although mental health awareness is gradually improving, stigma remains a significant barrier to help-seeking behavior. Therefore, community-based awareness programs, mental health education, counseling services, and culturally sensitive anti-stigma interventions are essential to improve mental health outcomes and promote a supportive social environment.
A. Shrestha· Aadim Journal of Multidiscip...· 0 citations
Background The stigma associated with mental disorders influences help-seeking behavior, quality of care, and recovery outcomes. Although diagnostic labels are essential for clinical communication and research, they may also evoke negative social perceptions that contribute to discrimination and self-stigma. Accordingly, the present study aimed to evaluate the perceived degree of stigmatization of a set of diagnostic labels for mental disorders, and secondarily to explore their perceived sex-based applicability. Methods A total of 61 terms, including diagnostic labels derived from the DSM-5 were linguistically transformed into adjectival forms and evaluated using a Delphi methodology. The study was conducted between March and July 2025 and consisted of three sequential rounds. A multidisciplinary panel comprising 36 health professionals and 14 mental health service users rated each label on a 9-point Likert-type scale according to its perceived stigmatizing potential. Consensus was assessed following the criteria established by the RAND Corporation, using percentile distributions and interquartile ranges. Ratings on whether each label was perceived as more commonly associated with men, women, or both equally were also collected. Results A total of three Delphi rounds were conducted with the aim of achieving the highest possible level of consensus among participants. Of the 61 labels evaluated, 20 reached consensus (32.78%). Among these, 95% were classified as highly stigmatizing and 5% as low in stigma, while none reached consensus for a moderate level of stigmatization. In terms of sex-based applicability, 51% of the labels were perceived as applicable to both sexes, 31% as more applicable to men, and 18% as more applicable to women. Conclusion Results showed that only a limited number of labels reached consensus regarding their stigmatizing level, highlighting the subjective and complex nature of stigma surrounding diagnostic language.
María del Pilar Ferrer-Martínez, M. M. Hurtado, Elena Navarro-González et al.· Frontiers in Psychology· 0 citations
Perceived social isolation is a major public health concern in the United States and is consistently associated with adverse psychological outcomes. However, the psychological and behavioral pathways through which perceived social isolation is associated with distress remain incompletely understood, particularly in the context of digital health behaviors. Drawing primarily on Social Cognitive Theory, while also considering health anxiety, uncertainty management, and stress-and-coping perspectives, this study examined a serial mediation model in which eHealth engagement and health self-efficacy were specified as ordered mediators linking social isolation to psychological distress among U.S. adults. Data were drawn from the Health Information National Trends Survey, Cycle 7 (HINTS 7; N = 5,533). Social isolation was measured using the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Social Isolation T-score, and psychological distress was assessed with the Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4). Serial mediation was estimated using survey-weighted regression models with jackknife replicate variance estimation, adjusting for age, sex, education, income, race/ethnicity, and chronic condition count. Social isolation was positively associated with PHQ-4 distress. Significant indirect effects were observed through health self-efficacy and through eHealth engagement alone; however, the serial indirect pathway through eHealth engagement and health self-efficacy was not significant. Findings are consistent with health self-efficacy as a theoretically meaningful pathway linking social isolation and psychological distress, whereas eHealth engagement may reflect reactive health information seeking among more isolated or distressed adults. Because the data are cross-sectional, causal interpretation is not warranted.
BACKGROUND
Older adults increasingly rely on online health information; however, limited eHealth literacy may amplify health anxiety and cyberchondria, thereby compromising engagement in positive health behaviors. Understanding whether eHealth literacy buffers these adverse psychological influences can inform targeted interventions for aging populations.
OBJECTIVE
To examine whether eHealth literacy moderates the association between health anxiety and health behaviors among older adults, and to identify demographic and psychological predictors of health behaviors.
METHODS
This was a cross-sectional correlational study reported in accordance with Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology guidelines of a convenience sample of 400 community-dwelling adults aged ≥ 60 years. Data were collected via structured survey administration.
RESULTS
Higher eHealth literacy was associated with more favorable health behaviors and lower levels of cyberchondria and health anxiety. In regression models, education, online health information‑seeking frequency, eHealth literacy, cyberchondria, and health anxiety emerged as independent predictors of health behaviors. Moderation analyses indicated that eHealth literacy buffered the negative association between health anxiety and health behaviors.
DISCUSSION
eHealth literacy appears to function as a protective factor in later life by reducing the adverse association between health anxiety and engagement in positive health behaviors, while also relating inversely to cyberchondria. Although educational attainment remained a significant predictor, psychological variables accounted for substantial additional amount of variance in health behaviors. Integrating eHealth literacy training with anxiety-informed support in gerontological care may strengthen preventive and self-management behaviors among older adults in community and clinical settings.
Nawara Khirallah Abd El Fatah, A. El-Ashry, Marwa Ibrahim Mahfouz Khalil et al.· Nursing Research· 0 citations
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