Subjektive Krankheitstheorien bei Kindern und Jugendlichen mit somatoformen Störungen oder Asthma bronchiale und ihren Eltern

Abstract

Subjektive Krankheitstheorien bei Kindern und Jugendlichen mit somatoformen Störungen oder Asthma bronchiale und ihren ElternPraxis der Kinderpsychologie und Kinderpsychiatrie 56 (2007) Summary Illness beliefs of children and adolescents with somatoform disorder or asthma bronchiale and of their parentsIllness beliefs of children and adolescents (age: 8-18 years) with somatoform disorder or asthma bronchiale and of their parents were compared. 25 patients of each diagnostic group and their parents participated independently in semi-structured interviews. The answers were categorized after qualitative content analyses. The frequencies of specific illness beliefs in each group were compared, coefficients of similarity between patients' and their parents' illness beliefs were calculated. Illness beliefs are mostly multi-dimensional, but not consistent. We discriminated seven categories of causal attributions: genetic, mental, somatic, developmental, behavioural, social, and physical/environmental. Children and adolescents reported less complex attributions compared with their parents, moderate similarity between patients' and their parents' illness beliefs is demonstrated. Disease specific attributions were most prominent in the parental perspective, with a preference for psycho-social illness attributions in parents of patients with somatoform disorders and a preference for genetic, physical-external and somatic attributions in parents of patients with asthma. Patients with somatoform disorder considered significantly more often psycho-social illness causes, compared with patients in the asthma-group. Differential apriori assessment of patients' and parents' illness beliefs may contribute to effective cognitive-behavioral interventions.