Symptom Schemata in Chronic Respiratory Patients

In view of evidence that illness prognoses and adaptive functioning may be influenced by the accuracy of people's knowledge about their physical symptoms, the present study extended these findings to the chronic care population. It was hypothesized that individuals hold beliefs and develop theo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Health psychology 1991, Vol.10 (4), p.268-273
Main Authors: Michael Lacroix, J, Martin, Brenda, Avendano, Monica, Goldstein, Roger
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adjustment
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Female
Human
Humans
Lung Diseases, Obstructive - diagnosis
Lung Diseases, Obstructive - psychology
Male
Measurement
Middle Aged
Personality Inventory - statistics & numerical data
Prognosis
Psychometrics
Psychophysiologic Disorders - diagnosis
Psychophysiologic Disorders - psychology
Respiratory Tract Disorders
Schema
Severity (Disorders)
Sick Role
Somatoform Disorders - diagnosis
Somatoform Disorders - psychology
Symptoms
Test Validity
Citations: Items that cite this one
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Summary:In view of evidence that illness prognoses and adaptive functioning may be influenced by the accuracy of people's knowledge about their physical symptoms, the present study extended these findings to the chronic care population. It was hypothesized that individuals hold beliefs and develop theories about their physical symptoms and that the accuracy of these beliefs is predictive of the individuals' general level of adaptive functioning. A modified version of an instrument designed to measure the accuracy of illness schemata was employed with a sample of 31 chronic respiratory patients. Accuracy rating correlated positively and significantly with ratings of adaptive functioning, whereas no relationship was observed between adaptive functioning and severity of the patients' medical condition. Well-informed patients functioned at a higher level physically, psychologically, and socially than less-informed patients. These findings point to the importance of patient education for prognosis. Possible mediating factors are discussed. Key words: symptoms, schema, cognition, models, respiratory
ISSN:0278-6133
1930-7810
DOI:10.1037/0278-6133.10.4.268