Development and psychometric evaluation of a brief version of the hyperventilation questionnaire: the HVQ-B

The fear of arousal sensations characterizes some anxiety disorders and is a core feature of an established risk factor for anxiety and related disorders (i.e. anxiety sensitivity; Taylor, 1999). Anxiety sensitivity (AS) refers to a fear of anxiety-related bodily sensations stemming from beliefs that these have catastrophic consequences. Interoceptive exposure (IE; repeated exposure to feared arousal sensations) has been shown to decrease AS. The 33-item Hyperventilation Questionnaire (HVQ; Rapee & Medoro, 1994) measures state levels of cognitive, affective, and somatic responses to IE and arousal induction exercises more generally. The aim of the present set of studies was to develop and evaluate a brief version of the HVQ, the HVQ-B, in order to facilitate its use in research and clinical settings. In Study 1, three existing data sets that used the long version of the HVQ were combined to select the items to be retained for the HVQ-B. In Study 2, the 18-item HVQ-B was administered and its psychometric properties were evaluated. In Study 3, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed on the 18 items of the HVQ-B. The HVQ-B demonstrated excellent psychometric properties, and accounted for most of the variance of the questionnaire's longer version. CFA indicated a reasonably good fit of the three-factor measurement model. Finally, the HVQ-B was able to distinguish between responses to arousal induction exercises by high versus low AS participants. The HVQ-B is a useful tool to assess cognitive, affective, and somatic responsivity to arousal sensations in both research and practice.