A longitudinal study of the common-sense model of illnesses among haematology patients in China

Abstract

Background: This study longitudinally examined the Illness Perception Questionnaire–Revised (IPQ–R) and the clinical outcomes among haematology patients. Methods: Haematology patients (N = 206) from West China Hospital completed IPQ-R, World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (Proxy), and collection of blood sample (i.e., white blood cell, haemoglobin, platelet) in Week 1 (T1) and Week 8 (T2; response rate = 25.24%). We used the residual scores (Δ; produced by regressing each variable in T2 on that of T1) of all the IPQ–R constructs to predicted that of each outcome variable (i.e., life difficulty, days affected by disability and blood samples) by linear multiple regression. Findings: The results showed that Δillness coherence was a negative predictor of Δlife difficulty and Δdays affected by disability. Δcauses–psychological factor was a positive predictor of Δwhite blood cell and Δhaemoglobin. None of the ΔIPQ–R variables formed significant association with Δplatelet. Discussion: Consistent with the common-sense model of illnesses, IPQ–R was shown to be predictive to the change of some clinical outcomes of haematology patients. Future studies should investigate the biological mechanisms underpinning the model.