title: [Illness perception questionnaire (IPQ-r): an useful paradigm in chronic disease].
abstract: The Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQr) is a validated psycho-social tool. Chronic illness out-patients, 48 women and 42 men, 61.36 +/- 14.55 yrs, showed a social stigma related to illness condition, even common and scarcely invalidating, more evident with a lower degree of instruction, associated to limited cognitive representation and to inappropriate control. Duration of illness directly influences perception of "chronicity"; age, instead, positively influences compliance and trust of patients. The study of illness perception, aimed to foresee, interprets and modifies behavioural patterns in health and disease, according to implicit and/or hidden personal and/or social theories, it can improve quality of clinical medical approach.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Medicina Interna e Terapia Medica, Facoltà di Medicina e Chirurgia, Università, Catania. guglielmotrovato@unict.it
authors.forename: Guglielmo M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Trovato
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Catalano
authors.forename: Giuseppe Fabio
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Martines
authors.forename: Davide
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Spadaro
authors.forename: Giuliana
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Garufi
authors.forename: Donatella
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Di Corrado
authors.forename: Santo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Di Nuovo
mesh_terms: D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010465:Perception; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires