Different shades of meaning: Illness beliefs among vitiligo sufferers

Abstract

Vitiligo is a pigmentory disorder of uncertain etiology, involving the destruction of cutaneous melanocytes. This study explores the beliefs held by vitiligo sufferers about their condition in the absence of an established medical explanation. All vitiligo patients had been formally diagnosed by a dermatologist or GP. Participants completed the Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ) in order to measure illness beliefs. Participants also completed a questionnaire requesting demographic information. Questionnaires were sent to 1,937 members of the UK Vitiligo Society, of whom 922 (48%) returned usable questionnaires. The results suggest distinct differences in the consequences of vitiligo and differences in internal and external causal attributions with respect to race and gender status. The findings have implications for how we approach counselling and medical therapy for this patient group. Further implications are discussed and suggestions for future research are made.