The mediating role of rumination between stress appraisal and cyberchondria.

Cyberchondria, defined as excessive concern about one's health and looking for solutions to health problems on the Internet, is becoming increasingly common. This paper examines the relations between the dimensions of stress appraisal (threat, challenge-activity, challenge-passivity, harm/loss) and cyberchondria. We also tested whether these relations were mediated by rumination. The study included a nonclinical sample of N = 615 participants aged 18 to 83 years (M = 43.86, SD = 14.57, 53 % women), who completed the short version of the Cyberchondria Severity Scale, the Rumination Scale, and the Stress Appraisal Questionnaire. We used the Computer-Assisted Web Interview (CAWI) method. The results revealed that rumination was a partial mediator between stress as a threat and cyberchondria and between stress as a harm/loss and cyberchondria. Cyberchondria was positively related to rumination, stress as a threat, and stress as a harm/loss and negatively related to the challenge-activity dimension of stress appraisal. The study indicates that stress appraisal is linked to cyberchondria and that rumination plays an important role in this relationship.

The role of emotional functioning in the relationship between health anxiety and cyberchondria.

Access to health information can have positive effects in the form of increased health awareness. However, self-diagnosis based on information available on websites can be dangerous, causing distress as an increasing amount of time is spent on searching. The main aim of the study was to determine the role of emotional functioning in the relationship between health anxiety and cyberchondria. The study included N = 615 participants aged 18 to 83 years (M = 43.86, SD = 14.57). The authors used the Cyberchondria Severity Scale, the Short Health Anxiety Inventory, the Life Orientation Test, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, and the Kessler 6 Psychological Distress Scale. The results demonstrate that health anxiety is significantly related to cyberchondria and that pessimism and difficulties in emotion regulation act as mediators in this relationship. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-022-04126-3.

Psychometric properties of the Polish adaptation of Technostress Creators and Technostress Inhibitors Scale.

BACKGROUND: The use of information and communication technologies by employees of organizations may cause technostress for their users. The sources of technostress in organizations are techno-overload, techno-invasion, techno-complexity, techno-insecurity, techno-uncertainty. An organization may also have technostress inhibitors that counteract the experience of technostress. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The purpose of this research was to determine the psychometric properties of the Polish adaptation of Technostress Creators and Technostress Inhibitors Scale. RESULTS: In the first study (N = 632), the 8-factor structure of the questionnaire was confirmed by the use of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Furthermore, a high internal consistency of the adapted method was obtained. The second study (N = 451) confirmed the external validity of the adapted method by correlating it with the Perceived Stress Scale. The third study (N = 123) confirmed high stability at the time of results obtained in 2 measurements with the adapted scale. CONCLUSIONS: To conclude, it can be stated that the Polish adaptation of the Technostress Creators and Technostress Inhibitors Scale is characterized by good psychometric indicators and can be successfully used in various organizations in the diagnosis and reduction of technostress. Med Pr. 2022;73(4):277-93.