Living with Huntington's disease: illness perceptions, coping mechanisms, and spouses' quality of life

Chronic illness not only affects the life of those suffering from Huntington's disease but also threatens the quality of life (QOL) of their spouses. In this study, we focus on Huntington's disease (HD). The impact of HD on the QOL of spouses has been hardly studied from a behavioral medic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of behavioral medicine 2002-01, Vol.9 (1), p.37-52
Main Authors: Helder, D I, Kaptein, A A, Van Kempen, G M J, Weinman, J, Van Houwelingen, J C, Roos, R A C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Psychological
Attitude to Health
Caregivers - psychology
Coping
Cost of Illness
Family Health
Female
Humans
Huntington Disease - psychology
Huntington's disease
Huntingtons disease
Illnesses
Male
Middle Aged
Perceptions
Quality of Life
Sick Role
Spouses - psychology
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Summary:Chronic illness not only affects the life of those suffering from Huntington's disease but also threatens the quality of life (QOL) of their spouses. In this study, we focus on Huntington's disease (HD). The impact of HD on the QOL of spouses has been hardly studied from a behavioral medicine or health psychology perspective. We hypothesize that spouses' illness perceptions and coping mechanisms will contribute significantly to the prediction of their QOL. Illness perceptions, coping mechanisms, and the QOL of 90 spouses of patients with HD were assessed by means of the Illness Perception Questionnaire, the COPE, and the Medical Outcome Study 36-item Short Form Health Survey, respectively. After controlling for demographic and illness-related variables, coping mechanisms explained a significant amount of variance of spouses' role functioning. Given our results, more empirical and longitudinal research is justified on coping mechanisms and illness perceptions of spouses living with Huntington's disease.
ISSN:1070-5503
1532-7558
DOI:10.1207/S15327558IJBM0901_03