The IPQ-R is a psychological tool used to assess how patients perceive their chronic illness. It's divided into different sections, and each section is scored separately.

1. Identity Subscale:

This section lists a series of symptoms.

The patient indicates whether they experience each symptom and whether they believe it's related to their illness.

Scoring: Each symptom that is both present and attributed to the illness scores 1 point.

Total score = Number of symptoms the patient links to their illness.

2. Core Dimensions (Main Sections):

There are 7 key dimensions. Each one is made up of several statements rated on a 5-point Likert scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).

The dimensions include:

Timeline (Acute/Chronic) – belief about how long the illness will last.

Timeline (Cyclical) – belief about variability or unpredictability of the illness.

Consequences – perceived impact of the illness on life.

Personal Control – belief in personal ability to influence or manage the illness.

Treatment Control – belief in treatment’s effectiveness.

Illness Coherence – how well the patient understands the illness.

Emotional Representation – emotional response to the illness.

Scoring:

Add up the scores for each item in a subscale to get a total score for that dimension.

For example, if the “Consequences” scale has 6 items, and the person rated each as 4, the total would be 24.

Higher scores indicate stronger beliefs in that domain (e.g., higher “Consequences” score = illness is seen as more life-impacting).

3. Causal Subscale:

This section contains potential causes of the illness (like stress, genetics, behavior, etc.).

Patients rate each on the same 5-point scale.

Scoring: You sum the responses, or analyze the three causes that the patient believes are the most important.

There’s no “right” score here—it’s mainly for qualitative understanding of their belief system.

Scoring The IPQ-R | PDF | Diseases And Disorders | Cognition