Illness perception, medication adherence, resilience and quality of life among COPD and arthritis patients

Pages: 18-28
Nandini Sanyal (Department of Psychology, St. Francis, College for Women, Begumpet, Hyderabad )
Tina Fernandes (Department of Psychology, St. Francis, College for Women, Begumpet, Hyderabad )
Munira Fathi and Sakina Khatoon (St. Francis College for Women, Begumpet, Hyderabad )

The present study was conducted in two phases. The objective of Study 1 was to explore the relationship between illness perception and medication adherence in patients with Arthritis and COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) diagnosed less than 2 years and more than 4 years. The objective of Study 2 was to examine whether there is any relationship between the resilience and quality of life in a similar sample. A non-probability purposive sampling technique was used to select a sample of 160 Arthritis and COPD patients for both the studies. The results of Study 1 revealed that there is a significant difference between the patients suffering from Arthritis and COPD with respect to personal control and emotional representation (p<0.01). Significant differences were observed between the patients suffering from Arthritis diagnosed less than 2 years and more than 4 years in terms of personal control, treatment control and emotional representation (p<0.01). The study revealed significant negative correlations between coherence and medication adherence in COPD patients diagnosed more than 4 years (p<0.05) and between emotional representation and medication adherence in Arthritis patients, diagnosed less than 2 years (p<0.01). The results of Study 2 showed significant correlations between resilience and the dimensions of quality of life among Arthritis and COPD patients diagnosed less than 2 yrs and those above 4 years (p<0.05). Studies such as these highlight the need for healthcare professionals to consider the patients' resilience and their views on illness and adherence to provide effective care and treatment regimens and optimize their well-being.