title: A comparison of the illness beliefs of people with angina and their peers: a questionnaire study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  What people believe about their illness may affect how they cope with it. It has been suggested that such beliefs stem from those commonly held within society. This study compared the beliefs held by people with angina, regarding causation and coping in angina, with the beliefs of their friends who do not suffer from angina.
  
  
  METHODS
  Postal survey using the York Angina Beliefs Questionnaire (version 1), which elicits stress attributions and misconceived beliefs about causation and coping. This was administered to 164 people with angina and their non-cohabiting friends matched for age and sex. 132 people with angina and 94 friends completed the questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Peers are more likely than people with angina to believe that angina is caused by a worn out heart (p < 0.01), angina is a small heart attack (p = 0.02), and that it causes permanent damage to the heart (p < 0.001). Peers were also more likely to believe that people with angina should take life easy (p < 0.01) and avoid exercise (p = 0.04) and excitement (p < 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The beliefs of the peer group about causation and coping in angina run counter to professional advice. Over time this may contribute to a reduction in patient concordance with risk factor reduction, and may help to create cardiac invalids.
authors.affiliation: British Heart Foundation Rehabilitation Research Unit, Department of Health Sciences, University of York, Heslington, York, UK. gf107@york.ac.uk
authors.forename: Gill
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Furze
authors.forename: Alun
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Roebuck
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bull
authors.forename: Robert J P
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Lewin
authors.forename: David R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Thompson
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000787:Angina Pectoris / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010379:Peer Group; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires