BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Quantitative Psychology and Measurement
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1491759
The Illusory Health Beliefs Scale: Validation using exploratory structural equation modelling and multidimensional Rasch analysis
Provisionally accepted
- 1Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, United Kingdom
- 2Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, North West England, United Kingdom
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
The Illusory Health Beliefs Scale (IHBS) is a multidimensional instrument that evaluates endorsement of scientifically unsubstantiated, illusory health-oriented notions. These beliefs are important because they potentially influence attitudes/actions to the detriment of personal wellbeing/health. Preceding research examining IHBS item performance at the unidimensional subscale level identified five dimensions (Religious/Spiritual, Superstition, Precognitive, Health Myths, Scepticism), and an independent Health Pseudoscience subscale. The present paper extended latent structure analysis by employing exploratory structural equation modelling (ESEM) and multidimensional Rasch analysis. Concurrently, statistical appraisal tested convergent validity via relationships with related health-based constructs (i.e., health locus of control, HLC and beliefs about complementary and alternative medicine, CAM). A sample of 2138 completed the IHBS (1016 males, 1113 females, seven non-binary, two preferred not to disclose). Following minor scale modification, ESEM reported good data-fit for a six-factor model. With the exception of Scepticism, which was negatively associated, IHBS subfactors correlated positively with HLC and CAM. These outcomes supported the supposition that the IHBS measures perceived and illusory health control. Rasch analysis designated sufficient multidimensionality and satisfactory subscale functioning. Strong associations indicated that IHBS dimensions assessed related but discrete aspects of illusory health beliefs. High associations among paranormal-based dimensions (Religious/Spiritual, Superstition, Precognitive) suggested the need for greater content separation. Moreover, the poor reliability of Scepticism designated the need to develop a more efficacious assessment of this dimension.
Keywords: exploratory structural equation modelling, illusory health beliefs, Illusory Health Beliefs Scale, Multidimensional Rasch analysis, questionnaire validation
Received: 05 Sep 2024; Accepted: 21 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Denovan, Dagnall and Drinkwater. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Andrew Denovan, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, United Kingdom
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.