Illness perceptions in patients with fibromyalgia.
OBJECTIVE
Former studies in chronic diseases showed the importance of patients' beliefs and perceptions. The Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire was developed to assess these illness perceptions. Our goal was to investigate psychometric properties of the IPQ-R for Fibromyalgia Dutch language version (IPQ-R FM-Dlv) and to describe illness perceptions of participants with FM.


METHODS
196 patients completed the IPQ-R FM-Dlv. Internal consistency, domain structure and inter domain correlations were calculated and compared to the IPQ-R English language version. Scores were compared with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and coronary heart disease (CHD).


RESULTS
Most psychometric properties were comparable to those of the original IPQ-R. Participants showed a lack of understanding of their illness, expected their FM to be chronic and to have a lot of negative consequences on functioning. In 17 out of 24 domains significant differences were found between FM and CFS, RA, and CHD patients.


CONCLUSIONS
The IPQ-R FM-Dlv showed acceptable psychometric properties, although some aspects need closer examination. Illness perceptions of FM patients on the Dutch questionnaire were non-comparable to CFS, RA, and CHD patients on the English questionnaire.


CONCLUSIONS
The IPQ-R FM-Dlv can be used to assess illness perceptions of Dutch FM patients.
van Ittersum
M W
MW
Hanze University Groningen, University of Applied Sciences, Center for Research and Development in Health Care and in Nursing, Groningen, The Netherlands. m.w.van.ittersum@pl.hanze.nl
van Wilgen
C P
CP
Hilberdink
W K H A
WK
Groothoff
J W
JW
van der Schans
C P
CP
D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000523:psychology; D001294:Attitude to Health; D015984:Causality; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000523:psychology; D004651:Employment / Q000523:psychology; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D015673:Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005356:Fibromyalgia / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D011594:Psychometrics; D012803:Sick Role; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D014175:Translating