engleski

The Perceived Causes of Illness, Anxiety, and Depression in Cardiac Patients

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death not only in western, industrialized countries, but also in transitional countries, like Croatia. The development of CVD can be affected by psychological factors such as the emotional states of anxiety and depression (Dorian & Taylor, 1984). Depression tends to take a chronic course, and comorbid anxiety disorders are common in CVD and add to the disease weight (Wittchen et al., 2000). The aim of this study was to determine the significance of the perception of causes of illness in relation to the negative affect in patients with CVD. A total of 177 CVD patients (29% women) participated in the study. The age ranged from 32 to 89 years (M = 63.40, SD = 11.78). The Croatian version of the Perceived Causes of Illness Scale, the subscale of the IPQ-R (Illness Perception Questionnaire- Revised, Moss-Morris et al., 2002) has been adapted and verified. Using CFA, we compared two proposed models. Three-factor model showed better fit to the data compared to the original four- factor model. The three factors distinguish among attributions of the causes of the illness to: personal problems, uncontrollable factors and general risk factors. Using LPA analysis, patients were divided into two groups: the first group consisted of those who generally do not think about the causes of their illness, and they don’t tend to attribute illness causes to any factors, while the other group consisted of patients who think about the possible causes and attribute them to various factors. Significant differences in anxiety and depression have been obtained between these two groups of patients. Patients who think more about the causes of their illness were also more anxious and depressed, compared to the patients who do not think about the possible causes of their illness. We can conclude that in counselling and therapeutic work it is important to recognize the tendency to think more frequently about possible causes of the illness, because attributions can lead to the higher levels of emotional disturbance (e.g. depression and anxiety), which is also associated with worse outcomes of heart disease. Dorian, B. & Taylor, CB. (1984). Stress factors in the development of coronary artery disease. Journal of Occupational Medicine, 26, 747–56. Moss- Morris, R., Weinman, J., Petrie, K.J., Horne, R., Cameron, L.D., & Buick, D. (2002). The Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ-R). Psychology and Health, 17(1), 1–16. Wittchen, H., Carter, R., Pfister, .H, Montgomery, S., & Kessler, R. (2000). Disabilities and quality of life in pure and comorbid generalized anxiety disorder and major depression in a national survey. International Clinical Psychopharmacology, 15, 319–28.

perceived causes of illness ; anxiety ; depression ; CVD patients

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