1 research outputs found
Illness perception in tuberculosis by implementation of the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire : a TBNET study
How patients relate to the experience of their illness has a direct impact over their behavior. We aimed to assess
illness perception in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) by means of the Brief Illness Perception
Questionnaire (BIPQ) in correlation with patients’ demographic features and clinical TB score.
Our observational questionnaire based study included series of consecutive TB patients enrolled in several countries
from October 2008 to January 2011 with 167 valid questionnaires analyzed. Each BIPQ item assessed one
dimension of illness perceptions like the consequences, timeline, personal control, treatment control, identity,
coherence, emotional representation and concern. An open question referred to the main causes of TB in each
patient’s opinion.
The over-all BIPQ score (36.25 ± 11.054) was in concordance with the clinical TB score (p ≤ 0.001). TB patients
believed in the treatment (the highest item-related score for treatment control) but were unsure about the illness
identity. Illness understanding and the clinical TB score were negatively correlated (p < 0.01). Only 25% of the
participants stated bacteria or TB contact as the first ranked cause of the illness.
For routine clinical practice implementation of the BIPQ is convenient for obtaining fast and easy assessment of
illness perception with potential utility in intervention design. This time saving effective personalized approach may
improve communication with TB patients and contribute to better behavioral strategies in disease control