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Results for “illness perception”

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At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

PubMed2005

Assessing cognitive representations of mental health problems. I. The illness perception questionnaire for schizophrenia.

OBJECTIVE: To design a questionnaire to assess cognitive representations of mental health problems held by people diagnosed with schizophrenia. BACKGROUND: Personal beliefs about health problems have been reliably associated with emotional and behavioural responses to those health problems and health outcomes. This area has been extensively explored in relation to physical health, but somewhat neglected in mental health. In this study, a questionnaire designed to assess key beliefs about physical illness (the Illness Perception Questionnaire - Revised) was modified for use in exploring beliefs about schizophrenia. The new measure was termed the Illness Perception Questionnaire for Schizophrenia (IPQS). METHOD: Participants were 124 people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia who completed the IPQS and additional measures to assess symptom severity, emotional state, and attitudes towards medication. The psychometric properties of the IPQS were analysed, including internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and discriminant and concurrent validity. RESULTS: The IPQS subscales were shown to be internally reliable, and reliable over time. Correlations with measures of symptom severity, emotional state, and attitudes towards adherence to medication showed that the subscales were measuring the constructs that they were designed to measure. CONCLUSIONS: The IPQS is a reliable and valid measure of cognitive representations of mental health problems held by people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia.

Acute Disease↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Illness perceptions and related outcomes among women with fibromyalgia syndrome.

PURPOSE: Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain, multiple tender points, and fatigue, and affects 3-6 million Americans, 75% of whom are female. The purpose of the present study was to examine the illness perceptions of women with FMS using Leventhal's common sense self-regulation model. DESIGN: Ninety-one women with FMS took part in this study. Pearson correlations and stepwise multiple regressions were used to assess relationships among variables and explanation of variance in the outcomes of health behaviors, FMS impact, and subjective physical and mental health. RESULTS: Participants viewed their FMS as chronic with a somewhat fluctuating course, having serious consequences in their lives, and difficult to understand in a coherent fashion. The women tended to find their FMS emotionally distressing and unamenable to personal control or efficacious treatment. Emotional representations explained 41% of the variance in mental health scores and 17% in reported health behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, this sample of women with FMS had fairly negative perceptions of their illness. As suggested by Leventhal's model, cognitive and emotional representations predicted different outcomes. Interventions that address psychological as well as the physical components of the illness experience may offer benefits for women with FMS.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1997

Chronic illness perception in adolescence: implications for the doctor-patient relationship.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the inter-relationship of chronic illness severity as perceived by adolescents with both psychosocial well-being and objective measures of illness severity. Additionally to compared the adolescents' perception of illness severity with how their physicians believe that the adolescents perceive their illness severity. METHODS: The psychological well-being of 48 adolescents with either cystic fibrosis (CF) or insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) was measured by four standardized questionnaires. The adolescents' perception of severity of illness was measured using an original instrument (PSCI), and this measure was compared to their physicians' estimates of how the adolescents perceived the severity of their illness and clinical illness. RESULTS: There were 24 patients in both the CF and IDDM groups. Both groups were found to function well psychosocially; although, there were more patients with low self image compared to normative values. Depression and low self image were associated with a greater adolescent perception of illness severity. For both chronic illness groups, physicians' assessment of assumed adolescent perception of disease severity correlated with clinical indices of disease severity and was higher than the perception of illness severity reported by the adolescents. For adolescents with CF, but not with IDDM, perception of severity of chronic illness correlated with clinical indices. CONCLUSIONS: For adolescents with chronic illness, their perception of illness severity is an important indicator of psychosocial well-being. Physicians do not accurately infer their patients' perception of illness severity.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2006

Illness representations of coronary artery disease: an empirical examination of the Illness Perceptions Questionnaire (IPQ) in patients undergoing surgery, angioplasty and medication.

BACKGROUND: This study sought to validate empirically, through factor analysis, the theoretically developed Illness Perceptions Questionnaire (IPQ) measure of illness representations, and investigated how illness representations varied within an illness condition between different treatments. METHODS: Two hundred and fourteen coronary artery disease (CAD) patients, 70 of whom were undergoing medication, 71 to undergo angioplasty and 73 to undergo coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG), completed the New Zealand Heart Attack Recovery Project version of the IPQ. The core cognitive illness representation statement responses were subject to principal components analyses (PCA), with oblique rotation. Identity data were examined regarding symptom frequency. Subscales based on factor structures and frequency scores were utilized to investigate treatment group differences in illness beliefs through analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). FINDINGS: PCA of the core components indicated four factors labelled: 'illness impact', 'duration', 'control', and 'self-image', accounting for 46.5% of the variance. The most frequently experienced symptoms were fatigue, breathlessness and chest-pain (angina). ANCOVAs showed significant treatment group differences in frequency of chest-pain experienced (medication revascularization groups, p<.001). DISCUSSION: The results produced a modified structure for the IPQ, which appeared to reflect the nature of the illness under study and the possible fractionation of the core illness representation components. Responses on the subscales created were also related to the position within the 'subjective experience with the illness' that a patient had reached and the treatment being undertaken.

Aged↗

PubMed1993

Illness perception: social cost and coping-strategies of malaria cases.

This paper looks at illness perceptions and lay management of malaria in the context of new settlement. While the new settlement places unique pressures on the population there are several trends observed that have relevance for program planning and implementation.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2005

[Illness perceptions of patients suffering from acute leukaemia one week after diagnosis].

OBJECTIVES: To investigate illness perceptions, treatment expectations, and treatment experiences of patients suffering from acute leukaemia in the initial stage of their disease. METHODS: In the first week of treatment we interviewed twelve patients with acute leukaemia using a detailed semi-structured interview guide. To investigate the transcribed interviews we applied methods of qualitative research. Case analyses were assigned to interindividual comparison tables representing the following subject areas: complaints, diagnostics, causes, controllability, treatment experiences, and prognosis. This allowed us to describe similarities and contrasts. RESULTS: Dramatic narrations of overwhelming threat in younger patients are in contrast to downplaying, rationalizing, and factual descriptions especially in elderly patients. Feelings of helplessness and efforts of normalization become apparent. Experiences of visible and sensible physical injury are perceived as threatening. Prognosis is estimated as too positive. Mortal fears are only indirectly indicated. CONCLUSIONS: Our results have practical consequences for both patient education and psycho-oncological training.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed2000

Patients' illness perceptions and coping as predictors of functional status in psoriasis: a 1-year follow-up.

In a longitudinal study (two measurements with a 1-year interval), 69 patients with psoriasis completed the Illness Perception Questionnaire, the Medical Outcomes Study SF-20 Health Survey, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Data on coping (Utrecht Coping List) and severity of illness (body surface scores) were also collected. The results of regression analyses indicated that a strong illness identity was associated with more visits to the outpatient clinic, and worse outcome on physical health, social functioning, mental health, health perceptions and depression. Strong beliefs that the disease is controllable/curable and that the disease has disabling consequences were also related to more clinic visits and more negative perceived health, respectively. Patients who initially engaged in coping characterized by more expression of emotions, seeking more social support, seeking more distraction, and less passive coping were prescribed a lower number of different therapies, were less anxious, less depressed, and had a better physical health 1 year later. These results have implications for the management of patients with psoriasis, which reinforces current views on integrating psychosocial aspects into clinical care.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed2006

Facing mortality: a qualitative in-depth interview study on illness perception, lay theories and coping strategies of adult patients with acute leukemia 1 week after diagnosis.

In patients with acute leukemia we investigated the illness perceptions, lay theories and coping strategies 1 week after diagnosis. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 12 patients. The transcribed interviews were analyzed by methods of qualitative research. Dramatic narrations of overwhelming threat in younger patients contrast to rationalization in elderly patients. Feelings of helplessness and efforts of normalization become apparent. Intense descriptions of physical injury due to invasive procedures allow verbalizing the fear of the disease. While coping strategies are complex, the overall importance of trust is recognized. Mortal fears are indirectly indicated. The results have consequences for psycho-oncological training and patient education.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2003

Illness perceptions, mood and coping in predicting attendance at cardiac rehabilitation.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to identify psychological variables in poor/non-attendance at cardiac rehabilitation (CR). We investigated whether attenders and poor/non-attenders differed in relation to components of the self-regulatory model and coping, and which of these variables were the best predictors of attendance behaviour. DESIGN: A cross-sectional, between groups design was employed. In contrast with two previous similar studies, participants completed self-report measures shortly before the start date for the CR programme. Univariate and logistic regression analyses were conducted. METHOD: In all, 93 individuals who had been invited to attend CR completed the Illness Perceptions Questionnaire (IPQ), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced (COPE). Subsequently, 32 participants failed to attend, or dropped out early from, the programme. RESULTS: Attenders differed from poor/non-attenders in that they perceived a greater number of symptoms and consequences of their illness, greater distress, less strong beliefs that their illness had been caused by a germ or virus, and used problem-focused and emotion-focused coping more frequently. The best predictors of poor/non-attendance were lower perceptions of symptoms and controllability/curability of illness, and less frequent use of problem-focused and more frequent use of maladaptive coping strategies. CONCLUSION: Attenders and poor/non-attenders at CR were distinguished by illness representations, distress and usage of coping strategies. The variables found to be the best predictors of attendance could be used to screen those unlikely to attend and to develop interventions for enhancing attendance.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2005

Assessing cognitive representations of mental health problems. II. The illness perception questionnaire for schizophrenia: Relatives' version.

OBJECTIVE: To design a questionnaire to assess cognitive representations of mental health problems held by relatives of people diagnosed with schizophrenia. BACKGROUND: The ways in which relatives respond to patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia has been shown to impact on outcome. Understanding variation in relatives' responses is essential if successful interventions are to be developed. This study builds on previous research exploring attributions that relatives make about symptoms. The development of a new measure to assess beliefs that relatives have about schizophrenia is reported; The Illness Perception Questionnaire for Schizophrenia - Relatives version (IPQS-Relatives). METHOD: Sixty-two relatives completed the IPQS-Relatives, along with measures of general psychopathology, burden, appraisal of coping, and expressed emotion. The psychometric properties of the IPQS-Relatives were analysed, including internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and discriminant and concurrent validity. RESULTS: IPQS-Relatives subscales were shown to be internally consistent and stable over time. Correlations with measures of general psychopathology, distress, burden, coping, and criticism indicate that the subscales have good concurrent validity. CONCLUSIONS: The IPQS-Relatives can be used to assess relatives' beliefs about schizophrenia. This measure may aid family interventions that target beliefs associated with negative outcome for patients and their relatives.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2001

The course of depression in recent onset rheumatoid arthritis: the predictive role of disability, illness perceptions, pain and coping.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate the course of depression for patients with recently diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and to investigate predictors of depression. METHODS: Twenty-two patients with a history of recently diagnosed RA of less than 2 years were assessed on a variety of clinical outcome and process measures on six assessment occasions over a 21-month period. These 22 patients constituted the control group of a controlled trial and received standard outpatient clinic treatment during follow-up. RESULTS: Patients became significantly more depressed over time. A set of five factors were found to consistently predict depression at the following assessment. These were initial level of depression, disability, pain, beliefs about the consequences of arthritis and coping strategies. CONCLUSIONS: The results confirm the importance of psychological factors in early RA and their relative independence from physical findings. This is the first study to document the importance of illness perceptions in recent onset RA.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Changing illness perceptions after myocardial infarction: an early intervention randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to examine whether a brief hospital intervention designed to alter patients' perceptions about their myocardial infarction (MI) would result in a better recovery and reduced disability. DESIGN: In a prospective randomized study, 65 consecutive patients with their first MI aged were assigned to receive an intervention designed to alter their perceptions about their MI or usual care from rehabilitation nurses. Patients were assessed in hospital before and after the intervention and at 3 months after discharge from hospital. RESULTS: The intervention caused significant positive changes in patients' views of their MI. Patients in the intervention group also reported they were better prepared for leaving hospital (p<.05) and subsequently returned to work at a significantly faster rate than the control group (p<.05). At the 3-month follow-up, patients in the intervention group reported a significantly lower rate of angina symptoms than control subjects (14.3 vs. 39.3, p<.03). There was no significant differences in rehabilitation attendance between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: An in-hospital intervention designed to change patients' illness perceptions can result in improved functional outcome after MI.

Attitude to Health↗

PubMed1997

Tropical illness profiles: the psychology of illness perception in Malawi.

Psychological and social investigations of tropical diseases can make a significant contribution to understanding and managing many illnesses. One-hundred and seventy-five Malawian university students rated peopled who suffered from AIDS, malaria, schistosomiasis and the 'common cold', on 11 psycho-social dimensions related to illness. Analysis of variance and factor analysis was used to distinguish distinctive illness profiles reflecting perceptions of (people with) these illnesses. Results suggested that infirmity was associated with AIDS and that the seriousness of malaria was minimized. Within a context of many threats to health the importance of distinguishing between serious illnesses is emphasized for effective health promotion interventions.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

PubMed1992

Illness perception and symptom components in chronic fatigue syndrome.

Two-hundred and eight patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (post-viral fatigue syndrome) completed a questionnaire which dealt both with their illness in general and with the extent to which they experienced specific symptoms. A factor analysis of the symptom data yielded four components: emotional distress; fatigue; somatic symptoms; and cognitive difficulty. Emotional disturbance is a common feature of the disorder and its role has been widely debated. When the symptom components were considered independently, fatigue, somatic symptoms and cognitive difficulty were associated with questionnaire items relating to general illness severity, but emotional distress was not. Thus negative emotions did not contribute directly to patients' perception of illness severity. They were, however, correlated with the other symptom components. It is argued that this correlation reflects a reciprocal influence, with negative emotions exacerbating fatigue and other key symptoms and the debilitating nature of these symptoms enhancing emotional vulnerability.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed2005

Quality of life in chronic illness: perceptions of parents and paediatricians.

AIMS: To investigate the differences in perception of quality of life between parents of chronically ill children and paediatricians at diagnosis and follow up. Quality of life was assessed using the (HUI3). METHODS: Longitudinal study (July 1999-January 2002) of 37 paediatricians and 181 parents of patients (children aged 1-17 years) with cystic fibrosis admitted for a pneumonia or patients with newly diagnosed acute lymphatic leukaemia, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, or asthma. Main outcome measure was percentage agreement on the attributes of the HUI3 between parents and paediatricians. RESULTS: Differences in perception of health and wellbeing between paediatricians and parents of children with a chronic disease were found, not only at diagnosis but also after a period of follow up. Differences were particularly clear in the subjective attributes emotion (range of agreement 28-68%) and pain/discomfort (range of agreement 11-33%). In all patient groups, at baseline and follow up, the paediatrician assessed the patient to have less pain/discomfort in comparison to the parents. Despite a prolonged patient- paediatrician relationship, differences at follow up did not decrease compared to baseline. CONCLUSION: At the onset of a chronic disease, but also after a period of follow up, quality of life of paediatric patients may be misunderstood by healthcare professionals, especially in the subjective attributes. Systematic assessment of quality of life may contribute to better understanding between physicians and parents.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1996

An ethnographic study of illness perceptions and practices of Yemeni-Arabs in Michigan.

The purpose of this study was to explore the illness practices of Yemeni-Arab Americans and to generate illness themes based on informant reports. A convenient sample of 30 Yemeni-Arab American women was selected from Dearborn, Michigan. A content analysis of interview data was the basis for data analysis. The Arabic language was used in all the interviews due to enability of the informants to speak English. Thirty-three illness practices were identified by the study informants. Analysis of interview data indicated that informants relied heavily on religious explanations of illness practices. Several cultural themes were deduced from collected data. Among these were belief in an omnipotent deity who is the cause of all that is, confidence in the rational mind of man and empirical knowledge, susceptibility to disease based on gender, reliance and trust in health care providers and desirability of adapting to change.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Danger signs of neonatal illnesses: perceptions of caregivers and health workers in northern India.

OBJECTIVE: To assess household practices that can affect neonatal health, from the perspective of caregivers and health workers; to identify signs in neonates leading either to recognition of illness or health-care seeking; and to ascertain the proportion of caregivers who recognize the individual items of the integrated management of neonatal and childhood illnesses (IMNCI) programme. METHODS: The study was carried out in a rural community in Sarojininagar Block, Uttar Pradesh, India, using qualitative and quantitative research designs. Study participants were mothers, grandmothers, grandfathers, fathers or "nannies" (other female relatives) caring for infants younger than 6 months of age and recognized health-care providers serving the area. Focus group discussions (n = 7), key informant interviews (n = 35) and structured interviews (n = 210) were conducted with these participants. FINDINGS: Many household practices were observed which could adversely affect maternal and neonatal health. Among 200 caregivers, 70.5% reported home deliveries conducted by local untrained nurses or relatives, and most mothers initiated breastfeeding only on day 3. More than half of the caregivers recognized fever, irritability, weakness, abdominal distension/vomiting, slow breathing and diarrhoea as danger signs in neonates. Seventy-nine (39.5%) of the caregivers had seen a sick neonate in the family in the past 2 years, with 30.38% in whom illness manifested as continuous crying. Health care was sought for 46 (23%) neonates. Traditional medicines were used for treatment of bulging fontanelle, chest in-drawing and rapid breathing. CONCLUSION: Because there is no universal recognition of danger signs in neonates, and potentially harmful antenatal and birthing practices are followed, there is a need to give priority to implementing IMNCI, and possible incorporation of continuous crying as an additional danger sign.

Acute Disease↗

PubMed2004

Tinnitus and psychological morbidity: a cross-sectional study to investigate psychological morbidity in tinnitus patients and its relationship with severity of symptoms and illness perceptions.

This study investigates the relationship between tinnitus and psychological morbidity using a cross-sectional survey design from patients of an outpatient audiology department in a typical District General Hospital. The results suggest that a significant number of tinnitus patients suffer from psychological problems both during and more unfortunately after routine treatment for their tinnitus. Anxiety was found to be the main psychological problem. In conclusion, this study suggests that, while further research is needed, many tinnitus patients require psychological treatment and this has implications for the staffing of audiology units in District General Hospitals.

Adult↗