engleski

Perceived burden of illness in relation to anxiety and quality of life measures in IBS patients

Purpose: To investigate the relationship between perceived burden of illness and measures of anxiety and health related quality of life in IBS patients. Methods: Forty four outpatients with irritable bowel syndrome (age M=45, 33, SD=13, 66 ; 74% females) completed a set of psychosocial measures including State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-T), Visceral Sensitivity Index (VSI), Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36), Irritable Bowel Syndrome Questionnaire (IBS-36) and the Pictorial Representation of Illness and Self Measure Revised II (PRISM-RII). The PRISM-RII consists of two measures: illness perception measure (IPM) and self-illness separation (SIS). IPM is a pictorial representation of the size of the illness with regard to the patient's self (smaller, equal to and larger than the self). SIS represents the distance between the self and the illness. Also, the patients filled out a symptom severity diary for a period of 14 days. The symptom severity score was calculated as the average intensity of present symptoms over the period of measurement. Results: Self-illness separation and illness perception measure have a significant negative correlation (r=-0, 35 ; p<0, 05). In order to examine possible differences in anxiety and health related quality of life, with regard to IPM and SIS, we performed t-test analyses. The results show that patients with a higher score on IPM express higher visceral anxiety (t(2, 42)=2, 36, p<0, 05), lower general quality of life (mental component, t(2, 42)=2, 24, p<0, 05) and report more severe symptoms (t(2, 42)=2, 26, p<0, 05). Also, patients with higher scores on SIS express higher visceral anxiety (t(2, 42)=2, 42, p<0, 05). Discussion: The results indicate that IPM and SIS can be useful in discriminating patients with more prominent psychological difficulties. It seems that PRISM-RII is a valid instrument which adds additional relevant information to commonly used measures of psychological functioning of IBS patients.

perceived burden of illness ; visceral and trait anxiety ; general and specific health related quality of life ; symptom severity

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