title: Psychosocial factors associated with perceived disease severity in patients with chronic hepatitis C: relationship with information sources and attentional coping styles.
abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate psychosocial factors associated with perceived disease severity, with emphasis on informational processing, in 185 consecutive patients with chronic hepatitis C. Medical data, information sources regarding chronic hepatitis C, and attentional coping styles were assessed. The patients considered their hepatitis C a severe disease and gave it a mean rating of 74 (SD = 19) on a 100-mm visual analogue scale, but this perception was not related to liver histological severity. In multivariate analysis, age, coping styles (monitoring, blunting), and having a hepatologist as an information source accounted for 23% of the variance of perceived severity. These results suggest that information processing and psychological features play a key role in the way patients with chronic hepatitis C perceive their disease.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Psychologie de la Santé EA 3662, Université Victor Segalen Bordeaux-2, France. aymery.constant@etud.u-bordeaux2.fr
authors.forename: Aymery
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Constant
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Castera
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Quintard
authors.forename: Pierre-Henri
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Bernard
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: de Ledinghen
authors.forename: Patrice
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Couzigou
authors.forename: Marilou
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bruchon-Schweitzer
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D005260:Female; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D010555:Personality Inventory; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011594:Psychometrics; D012803:Sick Role