engleski

Causal attributions of illness in patients with cardiovascular disease

Many studies in the field of the illness perceptions are based on Leventhal’s common sense model of self-regulation, which proposes that individuals construct a representation of illness and health according to information available to them. The important aspects of illness perception are its perceived determinants - causes. Most patients suffering from cardiovascular disease (CVD) have bad health habits that put them at risk for another event, so changing the behavioural risk factor seems to be an important goal in the context of rehabilitation and functional outcome. The purpose of the present study was to explore causal attribution of illness in patients with CVD. The clinical sample included 122 adults (38 female and 84 males) aged from 31 to 88 years. The patients were admitted to the Department of Cardiology and Cardiac Rehabilitation for a major cardiovascular event, acute myocardial infarction or myocardial revascularization. They completed a set of questionnaires related to illness perception, cardiac anxiety and general anxiety and depression. Factor analysis identified three groups of causal beliefs about illness: psychological attributions (e.g. family problems, personal attitude, personality, emotional state, overwork, stress and worry, case or bad luck), immunity (e.g. bacteria or viruses, pollution, poor medical care), and general risk factor/ lifestyle (e.g. diet or eating habits, alcohol, overweight, and heredity). In our sample, the main causal attribution for CVD are stress and worry (72.8%), heredity (57.9%), case or bad luck (41.3%), family problems (42.1%) and overwork (41.3%). Psychological attribution was the only significant predictor of anxiety in CVD patients ; while the predictors of depressive symptoms are age, BMI and also psychological attributions. The older patients with higher BMI and those who attribute their illness to psychological causes are also the more depressed. Causal beliefs are discussed in the context of intervention designed to maximize health outcomes in CVD patients.

cardiovascular diseases; illness perception; causal attributions

This research is a part of the project ‘Biopsychosocial aspects of obesity’ (number: 13.04.1.3.07) supported by grant from University of Rijeka, Croatia.