engleski

Behavioral and affective determinants of suffering in IBS patients – preliminary results

Aim: Irritable bowel syndrome is one of the most common functional gastrointestinal disorders with a severe impact on the quality of life of its sufferers. In this study, we explored patterns of relationships between a visual measure of suffering and behavioural and anxiety measures in IBS patients. Methods: A total of 44 patients (age M=47, 70 ; SD=14, 96 ; F=35) participated in the study and completed a set of questionnaires examining Pictorial Representation of Illness and Self Measure-revised II (PRISM-RII: self-illness separation – SIS ; illness perception measure - IPM), IBS-specific behavioural responses (IBS- BRQ), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-T), Visceral Sensitivity Index (VSI ; GI-specific anxiety), and a symptom diary (patients kept a diary of their GI symptoms over a period of two weeks). Results: We found significant differences between participants who perceived their illness as small and those who perceived it as medium or large (IPM measure) in: SIS, symptom severity, STAI, VSI, and the IBS-BRQ. Participants who perceived their illness as small, represented their illness as more distant, showed a lower average symptom severity, had lower trait-anxiety and GI- specific anxiety scores and more appropriate behavioural responses to their illness. The Cohen's d values were from 0.69 to 4.46, indicated medium to large effect sizes. Correlation analyses showed that SIS was negatively correlated to VSI and IBS-BRQ, meaning that participants with lower visceral anxiety report a greater separation of self and illness and more appropriate behavioural responses to their illness. Furthermore, mediation analysis showed that VSI and BRQ explained 16.2% of SIS variance but with a complete mediation effect of VSI on the BRQ-SIS relation. Conclusion: Results indicated that perceived severity of one's illness was related to a number of factors, among which worry about GI symptoms and behavioural responses toward illness were more prominent. The use of PRISM- RII in the assessment of IBS patients’ coping with their illness could help in discriminating those patients with more prominent psychological difficulties.

irritable bowel syndrome, visual measure of suffering, anxiety

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