Table 5 Scale-specific item discrimination and difficulty

External

Others gave me advice

2.238 ± 0.284, p < 0.001

≥ 2

≥ 3

≥ 4

 = 5

Others helped me to make a decision

3.095 ± 0.570, p < 0.001

≥ 2

≥ 3

≥ 4

 = 5

Different people gave different advice about my symptom

1.255 ± 0.171, p < 0.001

≥ 2

≥ 3

≥ 4

 = 5

Someone else recognized the symptom before I did

1.134 ± 0.180, p < 0.001

≥ 2

≥ 3

≥ 4

 = 5

I thought about decisions I made in the past when I had a similar symptom

0.493 ± 0.115, p < 0.001

≥ 2

≥ 3

≥ 4

 = 5

The symptom got worse suddenly

1.536 ± 0.177, p < 0.001

≥ 2

≥ 3

≥ 4

 = 5

When I had this symptom, I knew something was wrong

1.434 ± 0.168, p < 0.001

≥ 2

≥ 3

≥ 4

 = 5

The symptom was severe or bothersome

1.941 ± 0.228, p < 0.001

≥ 2

≥ 3

≥ 4

 = 5

I felt like something bad was going to happen

1.700 ± 0.199, p < 0.001

≥ 2

≥ 3

≥ 4

 = 5

I felt I needed to make a decision quickly

1.139 ± 0.149, p < 0.001

≥ 2

≥ 3

≥ 4

 = 5

The symptom was different than what I expected

1.492 ± 0.150, p < 0.001

≥ 2

≥ 3

≥ 4

 = 5

It wasn’t clear to me what was causing the symptom

1.575 ± 0.159, p < 0.001

≥ 2

≥ 3

≥ 4

 = 5

I didn’t know what the symptom meant

2.575 ± 0.255, p < 0.001

≥ 2

≥ 3

≥ 4

 = 5

I thought the symptom might be due to something else

1.509 ± 0.155, p < 0.001

≥ 2

≥ 3

≥ 4

 = 5

I wasn’t sure how important the symptom was

1.621 ± 0.161, p < 0.001

≥ 2

≥ 3

≥ 4

 = 5

When I had the symptom, I didn’t understand what was happening

2.107 ± 0.210, p < 0.001

≥ 2

≥ 3

≥ 4

 = 5

The symptom was new to me

2.505 ± 0.278, p < 0.001

≥ 2

≥ 3

≥ 4

 = 5

I recognized this symptom from the last time I had it

 − 0.717 ± 0.118, p < 0.001

≥ 2

≥ 3

≥ 4

 = 5

The symptom was different than the last time I had it

1.582 ± 0.166, p < 0.001

≥ 2

≥ 3

≥ 4

 = 5

I felt too sad to make a decision

2.168 ± 0.226, p < 0.001

≥ 2

≥ 3

≥ 4

 = 5

My thinking was not clear so I could not make a decision

2.352 ± 0.230, p < 0.001

≥ 2

≥ 3

≥ 4

 = 5

I felt too anxious to make a decision

2.504 ± 0.254, p < 0.001

≥ 2

≥ 3

≥ 4

 = 5

I didn’t feel well enough to make a decision

3.840 ± 0.445, p < 0.001

≥ 2

≥ 3

≥ 4

 = 5

I felt too tired to make a decision

2.513 ± 0.241, p < 0.001

≥ 2

≥ 3

≥ 4

 = 5

I felt uncertain about what to do

1.713 ± 0.164, p < 0.001

≥ 2

≥ 3

≥ 4

 = 5

I thought I could wait to make a decision

1.400 ± 0.153, p < 0.001

≥ 2

≥ 3

≥ 4

 = 5

I felt that the symptom was nothing to worry about

1.297 ± 0.153, p < 0.001

≥ 2

≥ 3

≥ 4

 = 5

The symptom changed slowly

0.695 ± 0.120, p < 0.001

≥ 2

≥ 3

≥ 4

 = 5

I thought I could tolerate the symptom

1.971 ± 0.212, p < 0.001

≥ 2

≥ 3

≥ 4

 = 5

Someone else needed my attention

1.120 ± 0.155, p < 0.001

≥ 2

≥ 3

≥ 4

 = 5

I thought the symptom would go away on its own

2.105 ± 0.231, p < 0.001

≥ 2

≥ 3

≥ 4

 = 5

Other things were more important at the time

1.458 ± 0.171, p < 0.001

≥ 2

≥ 3

≥ 4

 = 5

I felt embarrassed about my symptom

2.260 ± 0.333, p < 0.001

≥ 2

≥ 3

≥ 4

 = 5

I didn’t want to burden my family

1.810 ± 0.225, p < 0.001

≥ 2

≥ 3

≥ 4

 = 5

I didn’t want people to know about my symptom

2.112 ± 0.296, p < 0.001

≥ 2

≥ 3

≥ 4

 = 5