A new measure of excessive parental worries about children’s health: Development of the Health Anxiety by Proxy Scale (HAPYS)

Ingeman, Katrine; Frostholm, Lisbeth; Hoffmann, Ditte; Wright, Kristi D.; Lockhart, Elaine; Kangas, Maria; Rask, Charlotte Ulrikka

doi:10.1080/08039488.2021.1900389

Cited by 13 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Health Anxiety by Proxy Scale (HAPYS) is designed to provide a systematic assessment of health anxiety by proxy. The final version of this scale consists of 26 item characteristic of health anxiety by proxy and an impact section with five items [ 7 ]. Although this scale measures excessive parental worries but does not set a definitive way to diagnose health anxiety by proxy disorder.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Health Anxiety by Proxy Disorder: A Case Report

Salama¹,

Alnajjar²,

AbuHeweila³

et al. 2023

Cureus

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Health anxiety by proxy (HAP) is a newly introduced term in psychiatry to describe the anxious feelings or fear of having or acquiring a serious illness. It is often accompanied by maladaptive illness behavior in the absence of true somatic symptoms. This, in turn, entails seeking medical advice and therefore doing many unnecessary investigations in an attempt to justify these symptoms. Functional impairment may appear in HAP patients, and this indicates a pathological point. To some extent, it can be said that HAP is similar to health anxiety disorder in terms of symptomatology and items. However, it is imposed on another (usually the patients' children) instead of the patient himself. Many biopsychosocial factors are suggested to play a role in the psychopathology of HAP. Until now, there are no well-established criteria in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-5-TR) or International Classification of Diseases 11 th Revision (ICD-11) to make the diagnosis of health anxiety by proxy. Although treatment protocols are missing, it appears that patients are not responding to treatment protocols for illness anxiety disorder. This requires focusing attention on conducting studies on those patients to develop clear treatment plans to help patients. In this report, we present a 28-year-old female with constant worries about her child's health, which subsequently resulted in seeking medical advice at multiple clinics with different medical specialties. Many factors were thought to be implicated in triggering her current condition. The anxious feelings reflected negatively on the patient's life, resulting in a poor functioning status. A treatment plan was initiated with a dismal response and fluctuating course. Additionally, we discussed the initial definition and the bases that could be used to facilitate the diagnosis and management of HAP disorder.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, till 2021, no standardized measures for systematic assessment were established. In 2021, a group of researchers developed the Health Anxiety by Proxy Scale (HAPYS) to systematically assess HAP [ 7 ]. Twenty-six items characteristic of HAP has been introduced in the last update of this scale.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Health Anxiety by Proxy Disorder: A Case Report

Salama¹,

Alnajjar²,

AbuHeweila³

et al. 2023

Cureus

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Excellent internal consistency and psychometric evaluation reflect that not only is this vicarious phenomenon present but that many during the pandemic have been affected. Few studies exist in this area to date, with all published studies relating to parental anxiety over a child’s health [ 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 ]. This goes beyond the work examining the transmissibility of anxiety [ 76 , 77 , 78 ] to identifying a phenomenon where another person’s health is the primary concern, causing clinical levels of distress.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Mental Health Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic Second Wave on Shielders and Their Family Members

Daniels

Rettie

2022

IJERPH

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In March 2020, individuals shielding from coronavirus reported high rates of distress. This study investigated whether fear of contamination (FoC) and use of government-recommended behaviours (GRB; e.g., handwashing and wearing masks) were associated with psychological distress during February 2021. An online cross-sectional questionnaire assessed psychological distress in three groups (shielding self, shielding other/s, and control), and those shielding others also completed an adapted measure of health anxiety (α = 0.94). The sample (N = 723) was predominantly female (84%) with a mean age of 41.72 (SD = 15.15). Those shielding (self) demonstrated significantly higher rates of health anxiety and FoC in comparison to other groups (p < 0.001). The use of GRB was significantly lower in controls (p < 0.001), with no significant difference between the two shielding groups (p = 0.753). Rates of anxiety were higher when compared to March 2020 findings, except for controls. Hierarchical regressions indicated FoC and GRB accounted for 24% of variance in generalised anxiety (p < 0.001) and 28% in health anxiety, however, the latter was a non-significant predictor in final models. Those shielding themselves and others during the pandemic have experienced sustained levels of distress; special consideration must be given to those indirectly affected. Psychological interventions should account for realistic FoC and the impact of government-recommended health behaviours, as these factors are associated with distress in vulnerable groups and may extend beyond the pandemic. Future research should focus on longitudinal designs to monitor and better understand the clinical needs of those shielding others post-pandemic.

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“…Therefore, parents are more likely to perceive their children's academic stress by perceiving their physical and mental health. Ingeman et al (2021) introduced health anxiety by proxy to describe parents' excessive anxiety about their children's health. Excessive academic stress leads to depression, suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and other serious physical and mental health problems (Sun et al, 2012), which would cause parents' concerns about their children's physical and mental health (Halupa, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Parents' excessive worry about their children's health is also one of the constructs of parents' mental health. Ingeman et al. (2021) implied that excessive parental health anxiety by proxy might lead to parents paying too much attention to or overly investing in their children's education and life.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of academic stress by parent-proxy on parents' learning-support-services: a moderated-mediation model of health anxiety by parents' educational level

Wang

2022

LHT

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PurposeThis study focused on parents' health anxiety by proxy about their children when they started learning online during the COVID-19 pandemic, to explore the impact of academic stress by parent-proxy on parents' learning support services with the mediating role of health anxiety by parent-proxy and the moderating role of parental educational level.Design/methodology/approachIn total, 8,940 primary school students' parents participated in the study. Bootstrapping was performed to test the constructed model.Findings(1) Academic stress by parent-proxy positively predicted health anxiety by parent-proxy. (2) Health anxiety by parent-proxy significantly positively predicted learning support services. (3) Academic stress by parent-proxy also significantly positively predicted learning support services. (4) Academic stress by parent-proxy positively predicted parents' learning support services through the mediating effect of health anxiety by parent-proxy. (5) Parental educational level moderated the relationship between academic stress by parent-proxy, health anxiety by parent-proxy, and learning support services. Academics and parents will benefit from the conclusions of this study in both theory and practice.Originality/valueDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, offline learning has been replaced with online learning, which has brought with it many physical and mental health problems, including additional academic stress. Most studies on learning support services have focused on offline learning. However, this study explored the relationships between academic stress by parent-proxy, health anxiety by parent-proxy, learning support services, and parental educational level in the context of online learning. Results show that it is necessary to pay attention to academic stress and health to provide children with appropriate learning support services.

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A new measure of excessive parental worries about children’s health: Development of the Health Anxiety by Proxy Scale (HAPYS)

Cited by 13 publications

References 35 publications

Health Anxiety by Proxy Disorder: A Case Report

Health Anxiety by Proxy Disorder: A Case Report

The Mental Health Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic Second Wave on Shielders and Their Family Members

Impact of academic stress by parent-proxy on parents' learning-support-services: a moderated-mediation model of health anxiety by parents' educational level

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