This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Heijmans, M. Articles by De Ridder, D. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Heijmans, M. Articles by De Ridder, D. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Structure and Determinants of Illness Representations in Chronic Disease

A Comparison of Addison's Disease and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Denise De Ridder

Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Although the clinical relevance of illness representations has been demonstrated in several studies, research on the structure and determinants of illness representations is rare. This article examines the illness representations of chronically ill patients, using a structured interview technique and taking chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and Addison's disease (AD) as examples. Considerable differences were found between the group of CFS patients (n = 98) and the group of AD patients (n = 63) with regard to their ideas about the identity, time line, control/cure , and consequences of their illness. Despite these differences, the pattern of correlations among these four dimensions of illness representation was found to be similar for the two groups. Moreover, the strength of the correlations points to the coherent nature of illness representations. The relations between the illness representations, personal variables, and disease- related variables were also explored. Regression analyses showed the dimensions of illness representation to be explained rather well by personal and disease-related variables. Disease-related variables were the most important predictors for the dimensions of identity and consequences; personal variables showed strong associations with time line and control/cure.

Key Words: Addison's disease • chronic disease, chronic fatigue syndrome • illness representations

Journal of Health Psychology, Vol. 3, No. 4, 523-537 (1998)
DOI: 10.1177/135910539800300406


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?