Illness perceptions and coping determine quality of life in COPD patients.
BACKGROUND
A key goal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) care is to improve patients' quality of life (QoL). For outcomes such as QoL, illness perceptions and coping are important determinants.


OBJECTIVE
The primary aim was to assess the associations between illness perceptions, coping and QoL in COPD patients. A secondary aim was to compare illness perceptions and coping of patients with reference values derived from the literature.


METHODS
A total of 100 patients were included in the study. Patients were asked to complete the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (B-IPQ), the Utrecht Proactive Coping Competence scale (UPCC), and a QoL item. Correlations and linear regression models were used to analyze the data. Student's t-tests were used to compare patients with COPD with reference values derived from the literature.


RESULTS
Patients with better understanding of COPD utilized more proactive coping strategies (P=0.04). A more intense emotional response to COPD was related to less proactive coping (P=0.02). Patients who reported using more proactive coping techniques also reported to have a better QoL (P<0.01). Illness perceptions were also related to QoL: more positive illness perceptions were related to a better QoL (all P<0.05). Patients with COPD reported more negative illness perceptions than people with a common cold or patients with asthma (all P<0.01), but reported similar perceptions compared with patients with diabetes.


CONCLUSIONS
Patients with COPD reported a moderate QoL, but appeared to be proficient in proactive coping. Illness perceptions, coping, and QoL were all associated with each other. Patients reported more strongly affected illness perceptions compared to people with a cold and patients with asthma. We postulate that a self-management intervention targeting patients' illness perceptions leads to improved QoL.
Psychological Sciences.
Jitske
J
Tiemensma
Health Sciences Research Institute, University of California, Merced, CA, USA.
Erin
E
Gaab
Department of Family Medicine, Maastricht University, Care and Public Health Research Institute School for Public Health and Primary Care, Maastricht, the Netherlands; Boehringer Ingelheim, Alkmaar, the Netherlands.
Maarten
M
Voorhaar
Department of Family Medicine, Maastricht University, Care and Public Health Research Institute School for Public Health and Primary Care, Maastricht, the Netherlands; Boehringer Ingelheim, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Guus
G
Asijee
Department of Medical Psychology, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, the Netherlands.
Adrian A
AA
Kaptein
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged; D032882:Comprehension; D017281:Cost of Illness; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D055809:Illness Behavior; D016014:Linear Models; D008168:Lung / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D010465:Perception; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
COPD; QoL; common sense model; coping; illness perceptions