Assessment of everyday beliefs about health: the lay concepts of health inventory, college student version.

This research investigated lay conceptualisations about health using a progressive mixed-method approach, culminating in a new self-report measure of lay concepts of health. In Study 1, 223 community and college-aged adults provided everyday descriptors of healthy people. These open-ended qualitative responses were narrowed to 259 distinct descriptors, and subsequently rated on their importance to health by a second lay sample (Study 2). The health descriptors rated as most important were then subjected to exploratory factor analysis in Study 3, resulting in five distinguishable factors. Proposed scale items were then administered again (to college students, in Study 4), and a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed. The CFA supported a four-factor model, comprised of Social-Emotional Health, Positive Health Practices, Absence of Stress and Anxiety, and Adequate Rest, presented as the college student version of the Lay Concepts of Health Inventory. The measure, as well as limitations and recommendations for future research, are presented.