Fear of Pharmaceutical Side-Effects

What it measures

A five-item scale measuring the intensity of fear a consumer experiences toward the potential side-effect consequences of a specific medication. Items contain two blanks — one for the side-effect type and one for the medication — and span fright, terror, fear-inducing thoughts, appalment, and dread. The scale captures the threat appraisal component of health risk communication and is designed for research on pharmaceutical adherence, health framing, and consumer responses to drug risk information.

Response format

7-point Likert

Scale items

• I am frightened by the consequences of _____ that may be caused by _____.
• The consequences of _____ that may be caused by _____ terrify me.
• Thinking about the consequences of _____ that may be caused by _____ makes me feel afraid.
• The very idea of the consequences of _____ that may be caused by _____ appalls me.
• The consequences of _____ that may be caused by _____ fills me with fear.

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

FILL-IN-THE-BLANK FORMAT: Blank 1 = the side-effect type (e.g., 'hypoglycemia', 'nausea'); blank 2 = the medication name (e.g., 'metformin', 'insulin'). Single alpha: α = .97 — Wong, Su & Lam (2020, Study 3; n = 210 diabetic MTurk participants). VALIDITY: Used as manipulation check; successful detection provides preliminary validity evidence. Originally labelled 'threats' by the authors. Items draw on health threat appraisal and fear appeal frameworks — Witte (1992) Extended Parallel Process Model.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Wong, Nancy, Lin Su, and Michael H. B. Lam (2020). Promoting medication adherence through message framing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 48(1), 138–158.

Keywords