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The self‐regulatory model in women with rheumatoid arthritis: Relationships between illness representations, coping strategies, and illness outcome
Author(s) -
Carlisle Alexandra C. S.,
John Alexandra M. H.,
FifeSchaw Chris,
Lloyd Mark
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
british journal of health psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.05
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 2044-8287
pISSN - 1359-107X
DOI - 10.1348/135910705x52309
Subject(s) - coping (psychology) , psychology , clinical psychology , psychiatry , illness behavior , severity of illness , mental illness , sick role , illness severity , outpatient clinic , disease , sociology of health and illness , rheumatoid arthritis , observational study , medicine , medline , health care , mental health , political science , law , economics , economic growth , pathology
Objectives. The self‐regulatory model proposes that an individual's cognitive representations of illness threat (illness representations) influence the selection and performance of strategies to cope with that illness (Leventhal, Meyer, & Nerenz, 1980). Also implicit in the model is the proposal that such coping strategies influence illness outcomes. These relationships represent a mediational model (Baron & Kenny, 1986). The aim of the present study is to test the hypothesis that coping strategies partially mediate the relationship between illness representations and illness outcome in women with rheumatoid arthritis. Design and methods. The study is an observational cross‐sectional design. Self‐report measures of illness representations, coping strategies, and illness outcome were collected from 125 women with rheumatoid arthritis attending rheumatology out‐patient clinics. Clinical measures of disease activity and severity were obtained from hospital records. Results. Avoidant and resigned coping were found to partially mediate the relationship between symptom identity and the illness outcome measures of disability and psychiatric morbidity. As in other studies, strong relationships were found between illness representations and illness outcome. Conclusions. The finding that avoidant and resigned coping partially mediated the relationships between the illness representation dimension of symptom identity and two of the illness outcome measures (disability and psychiatric morbidity) provided some support for the hypothesis. However, the hypothesis was not fully supported, as coping did not partially mediate the relationship between any of the other illness representations and illness outcomes.