Development of the Cogniphobia Scale for Headache Disorders (CS-HD): A pilot study

Cogniphobia refers to the specific fear and avoidance of cognitive exertion, which is believed to precipitate or exacerbate headache. This parallels a well-documented phenomenon, kinesiophobia (fear of movement), in chronic pain. The existing measure of cogniphobia (C-Scale) was developed in persons with posttraumatic headache, and item content may not generalize to the broader headache population. This study aimed to develop and begin the initial examination of the psychometrics of a novel measure of cogniphobia for headache disorders: The Cogniphobia Scale for Headache Disorders (CS-HD). Candidate CS-HD items were developed through content analysis, patient evaluation, and peer debriefing. Eighty adults with migraine recruited from a headache center completed 23 candidate items for the CS-HD and surveys of demographics, anxiety, and headache locus of control. A series of dimensionality analyses identified a single component, composed of 15 items, which accounted for 54.05% of the variance in the CS-HD items. The CS-HD demonstrated high internal consistency in this sample (α = 0.94). Preliminary convergent validity analyses found CS-HD total scores were positively associated with anxiety (ρ = .37, p = .001) and locus of control (internal, r = .45, p < .001; chance, r = .30, p = .009). This study provides initial evidence supporting the use of the CS-HD to evaluate cogniphobia in people with headache. (PsycINFO Database Record