Self-management support forms a central aspect of chronic Illness management nationally and globally. Evidence for the success of self-management support has mainly focussed on individually-centred outcomes of behavioural change. While it is recognised that social network members play an important role there is currently a gap in knowledge regarding who provides what type of support and under w...

This study is framed in theories of illness uncertainty (Babrow, A. S., 2007, Problematic integration theory. In B. B. Whaley & W. Samter (Eds.), Explaining communication: Contemporary theories and exemplars (pp. 181-200). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum; Babrow & Matthias, 2009; Brashers, D. E., 2007, A theory of communication and uncertainty management. In B. B. Whaley & W. Samter (Eds.), Explaining comm...

BACKGROUND Illness Management and Recovery (IMR) is intended to provide a structured psychosocial programme that helps to manage the disabling effects of severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorders. It is curriculum based and aims to improve different aspects of illness management and recovery through interventions such as goal-setting, psycho-education, coping and socia...

BACKGROUND People with mental illness have been identified as being more likely to experience type 2 diabetes and the complications arising from this, necessitating more complex chronic illness self-management. Social support has been identified as a significant factor in the successful adoption of lifestyle change for people with type 2 diabetes, however people with mental illness often have i...

BACKGROUND Being chronically ill is a continuous process of balancing the demands of the illness and the demands of everyday life. Understanding how everyday life affects self-management might help to provide better professional support. However, little attention has been paid to the influence of everyday life on self-management. The purpose of this study is to examine to what extent problems i...

  Nonspecific activity-related arm pain is characterized by an absence of objective physical findings and symptoms that do not correspond with objective pathophysiology. Arm pain without strict diagnosis is often related to activity, work-related activity in particular, and is often seen in patients with physically demanding work. Psychological factors such as catastrophic thinking, symptoms of...

abstract background: the aim of this study was to investigate the various aspects of illness perceptions about breast cancer in affected patients. methods: a cross-sectional study enrolled 140 patients with breast cancer in their chemotherapy period within 14 months. the revised illness perception questionnaire (revised ipq) was used to assess the disease representations of breast cancer. the d...

Women with breast cancer respond to the illness and its medical management in their own personal way. Their coping behavior and self-management are determined by their views (cognitions) and feelings (emotions) about symptoms and illness: their illness perceptions. This paper reports the results of a systematic literature review of illness perceptions and breast cancer. In the 12 studies identi...

epstein-barr virus (ebv) is a ubiquitous human -herpesvirus that infects about 95% of the adult population. the majority of primary infections occurs in early childhood and is generally subclinical; it can cause infectious mononucleosis (im), which is usually a self-limiting lymphoproliferative disorder. however, infection of ebv occasionally results in severe, often lethal diseases, which inc...