A systematic review of the psychological correlates of adjustment outcomes in adults with inflammatory bowel disease.
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic long term condition which poses significant psychosocial adjustment challenges. The purpose of this review was to systematically identify psychological factors related to adjustment in adults with IBD with the aim of suggesting evidence based targets that may be modifiable though psychological intervention. Twenty five studies met inclusion criteria and were included in the systematic review and a narrative synthesis was conducted. A wide range of psychological variables were addressed covering six broad categories; personality traits, interpersonal traits, stress and coping, emotions and emotional control, IBD related cognitions and non IBD related cognitions. The most consistent relationship was found between certain emotion focused coping strategies and worse adjustment outcomes in IBD. Some evidence also hi-lighted a relationship between personality traits (such as neuroticism,) perceived stress, emotions and emotional control (such as alexithymia) and IBD related cognitions (such as illness perceptions) and negative adjustment outcomes. The results of this review suggest that interventions to improve adjustment in IBD may benefit from a focus on coping strategies, perceived stress and IBD related cognitions.
Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Kings College London, 57 Waterloo Road, London SE1 8WA, United Kingdom.
Cheryl
C
Jordan
King's College London Prize Fellowship, NIHR BRC Clinical Lecturer, Health Service & Population Research Department, IoPPN, King's College London, United Kingdom; NIHR Post Doctoral Research Fellow, Population Health Research Institute, St George's, University of London, United Kingdom.
Jacqueline
J
Sin
Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College London, Weston Education Centre, Cutcombe Road, London SE5 9RJ, United Kingdom.
Nicola T
NT
Fear
Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College London, Weston Education Centre, Cutcombe Road, London SE5 9RJ, United Kingdom.
Trudie
T
Chalder
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000523:psychology*