Illness perceptions in adult congenital heart disease: A multi-center international study.

Rassart, Jessica; Apers, Silke; Kovacs, Adrienne H; Moons, Philip; Thomet, Corina; Budts, Werner; Enomoto, Junko; Sluman, Maayke A; Wang, Jou-Kou; Jackson, Jamie L; Khairy, Paul; Cook, Stephen C; Subramanyan, Raghavan; Alday, Luis; Eriksen, Katrine; Dellborg, Mikael; Berghammer, Malin; Johansson, Bengt; Rempel, Gwen R; Menahem, Samuel; ... (2017). Illness perceptions in adult congenital heart disease: A multi-center international study. International journal of cardiology, 244, pp. 130-138. Elsevier 10.1016/j.ijcard.2017.06.072

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BACKGROUND

Illness perceptions are cognitive frameworks that patients construct to make sense of their illness. Although the importance of these perceptions has been demonstrated in other chronic illness populations, few studies have focused on the illness perceptions of adults with congenital heart disease (CHD). This study examined (1) inter-country variation in illness perceptions, (2) associations between patient characteristics and illness perceptions, and (3) associations between illness perceptions and patient-reported outcomes.

METHODS

Our sample, taken from APPROACH-IS, consisted of 3258 adults with CHD from 15 different countries. Patients completed questionnaires on illness perceptions and patient-reported outcomes (i.e., quality of life, perceived health status, and symptoms of depression and anxiety). Patient characteristics included sex, age, marital status, educational level, employment status, CHD complexity, functional class, and ethnicity. Linear mixed models were applied.

RESULTS

The inter-country variation in illness perceptions was generally small, yet patients from different countries differed in the extent to which they perceived their illness as chronic and worried about their illness. Patient characteristics that were linked to illness perceptions were sex, age, employment status, CHD complexity, functional class, and ethnicity. Higher scores on consequences, identity, and emotional representation, as well as lower scores on illness coherence and personal and treatment control, were associated with poorer patient-reported outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

This study emphasizes that, in order to gain a deeper understanding of patients' functioning, health-care providers should focus not only on objective indicators of illness severity such as the complexity of the heart defect, but also on subjective illness experiences.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of Cardiovascular Disorders (DHGE) > Clinic of Cardiology

UniBE Contributor:

Thomet, Corina

Subjects:

600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health

ISSN:

0167-5273

Publisher:

Elsevier

Language:

English

Submitter:

Markus Schwerzmann

Date Deposited:

12 Jul 2018 17:12

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:12

Publisher DOI:

10.1016/j.ijcard.2017.06.072

PubMed ID:

28669511

Uncontrolled Keywords:

Heart defects, congenital Illness perceptions International cooperation, multilevel analysis Psychosocial care

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.114403

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/114403

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