The conceptualization and measurement of cognitive health sophistication

This article develops a conceptualization and measure of cognitive health sophistication - the complexity of an individual's conceptual knowledge about health. Study 1 provides initial validity evidence for the measure - the Healthy-Unhealthy Other Instrument - by showing its association with other cognitive health constructs indicative of higher health sophistication. Study 2 presents data from a sample of low-income adults to provide evidence that the measure does not depend heavily on health-related vocabulary or ethnicity. Results from both studies suggest that the Healthy-Unhealthy Other Instrument can be used to capture variability in the sophistication or complexity of an individual's health-related schematic structures on the basis of responses to two simple open-ended questions. Methodological advantages of the Healthy-Unhealthy Other Instrument and suggestions for future research are highlighted in the discussion.