Abstract

VALENCIA-TORO, Paula A. et al. Illness perception in Colombian patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) based on the Revised Illness Perceptions Questionnaire (IPQ-R). Rev.Colomb.Reumatol. [online]. 2014, vol.21, n.1, pp.4-9. ISSN 0121-8123.

Background: Illness perception is a cognitive representation that directly influences the patient's emotional response to their disease and their behavior to cope with this. Illness perception focuses on cognitive perceptions (identity, consequences of the disease, duration of this, personal control, and treatment effectiveness) and emotional (awareness of the illness, emotions generated, and understanding of them). Objective: To determine illness perceptions in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients through the revised Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ-R). Patients and methods: A total of 72 patients participated. IPQR was used for the estimation of the illness perception. Statistical analysis: hypothesis tests, chi-square statistic, Student's t-test, Pearson statistic. Results: IPQ-R scores: Identity 10.2±4.3, Timeline (acute/chronic) 18.1±2.9, Consequences 19.2±3.7, Personal Control 19.8±2.9, Treatment control 15.5±1.9, Illness coherence 14.7±3.1, Cylcic timeline 14.2±2.9, Emotional representations 18.3±4,2. Considering sociodemographic variables, higher educational level patients are less confident that the treatment will control the disease and understand it less. Patients who understand their illness think that the treatment is effective in controlling the disease. Unemployment correlated with more symptoms of anxiety and depression due to the SLE. As the disease gets more chronic, patients feel they have better personal control over their illness, and a much higher number of flares bring more negative consequences to their lives, and leads to them having more somatic symptoms than those caused by SLE. Conclusions: Knowing the illness perception of our patients may help to design effective interventions to improve treatment adherence, reduce associated morbidity and health care costs, and to finally have a real impact in the quality of life of lupus patients.

Keywords : Perception; Patients; Systemic Lupus Erythematosus; Revised Illness Perceptions Questionnaire (IPQ-R).

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