Abstract
Objective:the objective of the study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire in a sample of adolescents with chronic endocrine or pneumological conditions and to analyze the dimensionality and reduce the scale elaborating scales by sex and medical diagnosis.Method:we evaluated 510 patients aged 9-16 years using the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. We carried out tests of reliability, construct and criterion validity and a comparison of means based on the diagnosis and socio-demographic variables. The reliability and validity analyses showed adequate psychometric properties for this scale, with better results obtained for a single dimension after eliminating 3 items.Results:adolescents with type 1 diabetes and girls were found to have an increased threat perception of their illness. Anxiety/depression was positively associated with the perception of illness.Conclusion:this questionnaire is a useful and practical tool for evaluating adjustment to illness in pediatric patients.
Highlights
The evaluation of the perception of illness has aroused great interest[1] as it may affect patients’ quality of life, well-being and adherence to treatment, among other factors[1,2,3,4,5,6]
The processing of emotional and cognitive responses to illness helps patients to regulate themselves emotionally in order to better adapt to their condition, which can in turn change their cognitive or emotional representation
The term “perception of illness” refers to a patient’s mental representations of their illness, in relation to its identity, causes, consequences, course and control[7,8]. All this seems relevant in the case of chronic diseases (CD), since these are health problems that persist over time and requires continuous management and lifestyle changes over the years, and may affect the possible future evolution of the disease[9]
Summary
The evaluation of the perception of illness has aroused great interest[1] as it may affect patients’ quality of life, well-being and adherence to treatment, among other factors[1,2,3,4,5,6]. The term “perception of illness” refers to a patient’s mental representations of their illness, in relation to its identity (name and symptoms), causes, consequences, course and control[7,8]. All this seems relevant in the case of chronic diseases (CD), since these are health problems that persist over time and requires continuous management and lifestyle changes over the years, and may affect the possible future evolution of the disease[9]. These effects seem to be more serious in the case of endocrine diseases, such as Diabetes Mellitus Type 1(DM1), than in respiratory diseases, such as asthma[10]
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