title: Psychosocial well-being in young adults with chronic illness since childhood: the role of illness cognitions.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  More and more pediatric patients reach adulthood. Some of them are successfully integrating in adult life, but many others are not. Possibly Illness cognitions (IC) - the way people give meaning to their illness/disability - may play a role in individual differences on long-term adjustment. This study explored the association of IC with disease-characteristics and Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL), anxiety and depression in young adults with a disability benefit due to childhood-onset chronic condition.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a cross-sectional study, young adults (22-31 years, N = 377) who claimed a disability benefit because of a somatic condition since childhood, completed the Illness Cognition Questionnaire (acceptance-helplessness-benefits), RAND-36 (HRQoL) and HADS (anxiety and depression) online. Besides descriptive statistics, linear regression analyses were conducted to predict (1) illness cognitions by age, gender and disease-characteristics, and (2) HRQoL (Mental and Physical Component Scale), Anxiety and Depression by illness cognitions, controlling for disease-characteristics, age and gender.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Respectively 90.2%, 83.8% and 53.3% of the young adults with a disability benefit experienced feelings of acceptance, benefits and helplessness. Several disease-characteristics were associated with IC. More acceptance and less helplessness were associated with better mental (β = 0.31; β = -0.32) and physical (β = 0.16; β = -0.15) HRQoL and with less anxiety (β = -0.27; β = 0.28) and depression (β = -0.29; β = 0.31).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  IC of young adult beneficiaries were associated with their HRQoL and feelings of anxiety and depression. Early recognition of psychological distress and negative IC might be a key to the identification of pediatric patients at risk for long-term dysfunction. Identification of maladaptive illness cognitions enables the development of psychosocial interventions to optimise their well-being and adaptation to society.
authors.affiliation: Psychosocial Department, Emma Children's Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Eefje Ja
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Verhoof
authors.affiliation: Psychosocial Department, Emma Children's Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands ; Psychosocial Department, Room A3-241, Emma Children's Hospital, Academic Medical Center, PO Box 22660, 1100 DD Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Heleen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Maurice-Stam
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Emma Children's Hospital, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Hugo Sa
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Heymans
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, Health, Medical and Neuropsychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Andrea Wm
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Evers
authors.affiliation: Psychosocial Department, Emma Children's Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Martha A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Grootenhuis
keywords: Anxiety and depression; Chronic illness; Health related quality of life; Illness cognitions; Young adults
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