IHDL: Invloed van Huidaandoeningen op het Dagelijks Leven/ISDL: Impact of chronic Skin diseases on Health and Daily Life

The IHDL/ISDL is a multidimensional instrument for measuring the health status of patients with skin diseases. The IHDL/ISDL can be completed without professional assistance. It takes about 20 minutes to complete. Items of the inventory are scored on a 4-point or 5-point Likert scale and a VAS scale for physical symptoms.
The specific and skin related part assesses dimensions of physical functioning, more specifically skin status, physical symptoms of itch, pain and fatigue and scratching responses as well as disease-specific stressors of stigmatization.
The generic part gauges dimensions of psychologically functioning, disease-related impact scales, illness cognitions and social support by means of existing scales validated for other chronic diseases.
The IHDL/ISDL assesses the psychological dimension as positive and negative affect through three already existing scales, namely anxiety (10 items) , depressed mood (6 items) and cheerful mood (6 items) of which the reliability and validity have been studied in the Dutch population (Van der Ploeg et al., 1980; Zwart et al. 1982; Huiskes et al, 1990). Illness cognitions are measured with the ICQ (Evers et al., 2003) . Social functioning is measured through a Dutch validated social support scale (ISB: Van Dam Baggen & Kraaimaat, 1992). Impact is measured by the impact scale of the IRGL (Huiskes et al., 1990) and a newly developed stigmatization scale. Reliability and validity of the questionnaire was studied in patients with psoriasis and atopic dermatitis. The scales of the questionnaire showed high internal reliability and test-retest reliability and satisfying convergent validity in both patient groups. Sensitivity to change was demonstrated for both dermatological and cognitive-behavioral itching treatment. The use of the IHDL/ISDL is free for health professionals and researchers. The questionnaire is available in a Dutch/IHDL [artivle in .pdf format] and English/ISDL [article in .pdf format] version.

Publications

Evers, A.W.M., Duller, P., van de Kerkhof, P.C.M., van der Valk, P.G.M., Gerritsen, M.J., Otero, M.E., Verhoeven, E.W.M. & Kraaimaat, F.W., (2007). Invloed van huidaandoeningen voor het dagelijks leven (IHDL). Een ziektespecifiek en generiek meetinstrument voor chronische huidaandoeningen (impact of chronic skin diseases on daily life: A disease-specific and generic assessment). Psychologie & Gezondheid, 35, 40-49. [article in .pdf format]

Evers, A.W.M., Duller, P., van de Kerkhof, P.C.M., van der Valk, P.G.M., Gerritsen, M.J., Otero, M.E., Verhoeven, E.W.M. & Kraaimaat, F.W (2008). The impact of chronic skin disease on daily life (ISDL): a generic and dermatology-specific health instrument. British Journal of Dermatology, 158, 101-108.[article in .pdf format]

Publications with the IHDL/ISDL as a measurement of health status in patients with skin diseases

Lu, Y, Valk, P.G.M. van der & Evers, A.W.M. (2003). Helplessness as predictor of perceived stigmatization in patients with psoriasis and atopic dermatitis. Dermatology and Psychosomatics, 4, 146-150.

Evers, A.W.M., Lu, Y., Duller, P. , Valk van der. P.G.M. Kraaimaat, F.W., Kerkhof van de, P.G.M. (2005). Common burden of chronic skin diseases? Contributors to psychological distress in adults with psoriasis and atopic dermatitis. British Journal of Dermatology, 152, 1275-1281.

Verhoeven, E.M., Kraaimaat, F.W., Duller, P., van de Kerkhof, P.C.M., Evers, A.W.M. (2006). Cognitive, behavioral and physiological reactivity of chronic itching: Analogues to chronic pain. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 13, 3, 237-243

Evers, A.W.M., Kleinpenning, M.M., Smits, T., Boezeman, J., Kerkhof, P.C.M. van de, Kraaimaat, F.W. & Gerritsen, M.J.P. (2009). Itch and scratching as predictors of time to clearance of psoriasis with narrow-band ultraviolet B therapy. British Journal of Dermatology, 161, 542-546.

Verhoeven, E.W.M., Kraaimaat, F.W., Jong, E.M.G.J. de, Schalkwijk, J., Kerkhof, P.C.M. van de & Evers, A.W.M. (2009). Effect of daily stressors on psoriasis: a prospective study. Journal of Investigative Dermatology, 129, 2075-2077.

Verhoeven, E.W.M., Kraaimaat, F.W., Jong, E.M.G.J. de, Schalkwijk, J., Kerkhof, P.C.M. van de & Evers, A.W.M. (2009). Individual differences in the effect of daily stressors on psoriasis: a prospective study. British Journal of Dermatology, 161, 295-299.

Evers, A.W.M., Kleinpenning, M.M., Smits, T., Boezeman, J., Kerkhof, P.C.M. van de, Kraaimaat, F.W. & Gerritsen, M.J.P. (2010). Treatment nonadherence and long-trm effects of narrowband UV-B therapy in patients with psoriasis. Archives of Dermatology, 16, 198-199.

Laarhoven, A.I.M., Kraaimaat, F.W., Wilder-Smith, O.H., Kerkhof , P.C.M. van de & Evers, A.W.M. (2010). Heterotopic pruritic conditioning and itch: Anaogous to DNIC in pain. Pain, 149, 332-337.