The contribution of illness perception to psychological distress in heart failure patients

Abstract

BackgroundThe influences on the psychological well-being of heart failure (HF) patients have received limited attention. Illness perceptions are a specific set of cognitive representations that have been shown to predict health-related outcomes in other patient groups. This study sought to explore the role of illness perceptions in the psychological well-being of HF patients by creating a profile of illness perceptions in HF and examining their relations with anxiety and depression.MethodsParticipants were 95 consecutive outpatients. Indices of psychological well-being were depression and anxiety, measured using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Illness perceptions were measured using the Illness Perception Questionnaire – Revised (IPQ-R). Functional status was also determined using the New York Heart Association (NYHA) classification.ResultsIllness perceptions were associated with indices of psychological well-being. Regression analyses showed that illness perceptions accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in both depression and anxiety. The contribution of illness perceptions was greater than that made by traditional covariates (socio-demographic variables and functional status).ConclusionsResults highlight dynamic interrelations between perceptions of illness and mental health indices. They also suggest that in considering the role of illness perceptions in psychological well-being, the primary focus should be on the overall dynamic of an individual’s illness experience rather than on specific illness dimensions. Findings highlight the potential role of illness perceptions in depression and anxiety in HF. This has implications for interventions to maximise psychological well-being in this patient group.

Illness beliefs about depression among patients seeking depression care and patients seeking cardiac care: an exploratory analysis using a mixed method design

“…Beliefs about consequences comprise effects of the illness on daily life, whereas cure/control beliefs contain perceived possibilities to cure or to control the condition through treatment or personal behavior [ 10 , 11 ]. The common sense model is widely used and empirically confirmed among patients with somatic diseases [ 12 , 13 ] and among patients with depression [ 14 – 19 ]. In patients with heart diseases, it has been shown that illness beliefs about heart failure are associated with psychological well-being [ 13 ].…”

Perceptions of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation and Coping Predict Emotional Distress During the Acute Phase After Transplantation

“…However, these items did not appear internally consistent within the Brief IPQ. This has also been observed in other studies (Morgan, Villiers-Tuthill, Barker, & McGee, 2014) and the items have shown variable ability to predict distress (Hagger & Orbell, 2003), which might suggest a limitation to the contribution of coping appraisals (and the self-regulatory model) in some populations, including HSCT. However, the complexity of HSCT, heterogeneity of care (Copelan, 2006), and social desirability when rating helpfulness of treatment (treatment control) may have introduced complexity in these appraisals that was not possible to capture in the current research.…”

Tünetek, laboratóriumi paraméterek és a betegségpercepció eltérései irritábilis bél szindróma és gyulladásos bélbetegség esetén. Segíthetnek-e a kérdőívek a két betegség elkülönítésében?

“…Korábbi tanulmányokban sikeresen alkalmazták többek között szívbetegségek, reumás arthritis, tumoros megbetegedések, psoriasis és diabetes mellitus esetén [9,10,11], azonban IBD-ben még nem vizsgálták. A betegségidentitás-faktort 14, gyakran ész-lelt tünet előfordulásának vizsgálatával méri, mint példá-ul fájdalom, émelygés, légszomj, testsúlyváltozás, kimerültség.…”