Perceptions of Own Illness among the Elderly as Measured by the Brief-IPQ Scale and the IPIS

Katarzyna Pawlikowska-Łagód and Magdalena Suchodolska
Additional contact information
Katarzyna Pawlikowska-Łagód: Department of Humanities and Social Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Medical University of Lublin, 20-059 Lublin, Poland
Magdalena Suchodolska: Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Lublin, 20-059 Lublin, Poland

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 8, 1-10

Abstract: Background: The perception of one’s own illness by the elderly significantly affects the success of diagnostic and therapeutic processes. It depends on the patient’s existential situation, coping strategies, social support and the way the patient is treated by the medical personnel. The aim of this study was to investigate how the elderly perceive their own illness. Methods: The study covered 303 people over 60 years of age who were hospitalized in wards of Lublin hospitals. A diagnostic survey method was used in the study. The research tools were: the Illness Perception Questionnaire (Brief-IPQ), Imagination and Perception of Illness Scale (IPIS) and a questionnaire of own authorship. The place of residence in the study population significantly influenced the perception of own illness measured by the Brief-IPQ. Results: The elderly perceived their own illness through the prism of mental and physical destruction. Statistically significant correlations were observed between almost all components of the Brief-IPQ and self-assessed health status of the subjects. Conclusions: Older people’s perception of their own illness is very important in the success of the therapeutic process. The perception of disease is not statistical; it changes depending on the chronicity of the disease, its duration, cultural factors and the doctor–patient relationship. It is associated with biopsychosocial processes that affect the ability to perceive and understand the disease and to take appropriate actions to improve health.

Keywords: perceptions of own illness; the elderly; illness; chronic illness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/8/4665/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/8/4665/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:8:p:4665-:d:792441

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().