Validation of the Multidimensional Blood/Injury Phobia Inventory: Evidence for a Unitary Construct

The Multidimensional Blood/Injury Phobia Inventory (MBPI) was developed from a theoretical framework to characterize a broad range of feared stimuli and phobic reactions associated with this pathology. The MBPI consists of 40 items that cross 4 types of stimulus content (injections, hospitals, blood, injury), 5 types of phobic responses (fear, avoidance, worry, fainting, disgust), and a self versus other focus. This study reports on administration of the MBPI to 558 undergraduates, 9 of whom had blood/injury phobia. The instrument had a Cronbach's alpha of .91 and demonstrated good concurrent validity, convergent validity, and discriminant validity. One large factor emerged in an unrotated principal components analysis, suggesting that blood/injury phobia is a unitary psychometric construct. Exploratory factor analyses revealed a 6-factor solution defined by stimulus content domains and fainting, each of which may be important to consider clinically when assessing the unique concerns of treatment-seeking individuals.