Development and validation of the Fatalistic Causal Attributions of Cancer Questionnaire: A three-phase study

Miri Cohen, Michal Rosenfeld, Lee Greenblatt-Kimron

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Objectives: Tools have been developed to assess the existence and intensity of fatalistic beliefs. Causal attributions of cancer, referring to the foundation for fatalistic views of cancer as being predetermined or reflecting an unavoidable death, are lacking. The aim was to develop and validate the Fatalistic Causal Attributions of Cancer Questionnaire, a measurement tool for studying the causal attributions of cancer. Methods: Three-phase study. Phase I: Item extraction and development based on focus groups (N = 30) and assessment of content validity. Phase II: Assessment of quality of items and construct validity (exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and convergent validity) of data from 252 participants (aged 50–75). Phase III: Confirmatory factor analysis and assessment of the discriminant validity and reliability of the questionnaire with 127 online respondents (aged 20–70). Results: In Phase I, an initial questionnaire was constructed. In Phase II, four factors were identified: Belief in divine providence, belief in personal resilience as a protective factor, belief in chance or luck, and belief in inevitable environmental or genetic factors. The factorial structure of an 18-item version that emerged in the confirmatory factor analysis had good fit indexes and reliability measures. In Phase III, the 18-item questionnaire and its factorial structure and reliability were confirmed. Conclusion: The findings show acceptable psychometric properties for the questionnaire. We suggest that this questionnaire should be used with an existing questionnaire that assesses the intensity of fatalistic perceptions for a more comprehensive assessment of fatalism in research and in promoting adherence to screening.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)35-43
Number of pages9
JournalPsycho-Oncology
Volume30
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2021

Keywords

  • adherence to screening
  • cancer
  • cancer fatalism
  • causal attributions
  • factor analysis
  • health behaviors
  • oncology
  • psycho-oncology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Development and validation of the Fatalistic Causal Attributions of Cancer Questionnaire: A three-phase study'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this