This article describes change and stability in self-rated health after a major medical event. Using a prospective design, it examines the ability of premorbid and post-illness health perceptions to predict physical disability independently of medical, psychosocial, and behavioral variables. Participants (N=254) were a subsample of the New Haven cohort of the Established Populations for Epidemio...

BACKGROUND Although many advances in the management of hypertension have been made, success in hypertension control in real-life practice is limited. Control of hypertension is paramount in primary as well as secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease. Poor adherence to antihypertensive medication is one possible reason why success in clinical trials has not been translated into everyday pr...

BACKGROUND Despite the established benefits of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) attendance rates remain variable. Physical barriers to attendance have been extensively investigated but relatively less is known about the relationship between attendance at CR and psychosocial variables such as illness perceptions and social isolation. AIM To examine the influence of socio-demographic factors, illnes...

A meta-analysis of empirical studies (N1⁄4 45) adopting Leventhal, Meyer and Nerenz’s (1980) Common Sense Model (CSM) of illness representations is presented. The average corrected intercorrelation matrix for the sample of studies showed that the CSM illness cognition dimensions of consequences, control/cure, identity and timeline followed a logical pattern supporting their construct and discri...

OBJECTIVES Adjuvant endocrine therapy for early-stage breast cancer has greatly reduced the morbidity and mortality associated with breast cancer recurrence. Despite this, a significant proportion of women report fears of cancer recurrence. This study examined the associations between fear of cancer recurrence (FoR) and illness perceptions, medication beliefs, and treatment side effects in wome...

BACKGROUND The Revised Illness Perceptions Questionnaire (IPQ-R) is commonly used to measure illness perceptions. We tested whether the structure of the IPQ-R was appropriate for use with primary care musculoskeletal pain patients. METHODS Confirmatory (C) and exploratory (E) factor analyses (FA) were used to test whether the structure of the IPQ-R was supported for patients with knee pain (n...

 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 ...

OBJECTIVE The aim of the present study was to examine whether profiles of illness perceptions are associated with 10-year survival following cardiac valve replacement surgery. METHODS Illness perceptions were evaluated in 204 cardiac patients awaiting first-time valve replacement and again 1 year post-operatively using cluster analysis. All-cause mortality was recorded over a 10-year period. ...

BACKGROUND People's subjective perceptions of illness are important determinants of their ways of coping with health threats and the ensuing physical and mental outcomes, including quality of life (QoL), which has been consistently reported to be impaired by contact dermatitis. OBJECTIVES To investigate the relationships of subjective illness perceptions and dermatological QoL in atopic, cont...

OBJECTIVE Illness perceptions may influence health outcomes, including pain. The objective of the study was to investigate the illness perceptions associated with health and behaviour in a population of older adults with musculoskeletal hand problems. METHODS A two-stage cross-sectional postal survey was sent to individuals aged 50 yrs and over, registered with three general practices in Nort...