Representations of Chronic Illness in Patients and Their Partners

Representations of chronic illness have a strong influence on quality of life and coping. Illness-related believes and attitudes depend on the medical condition itself (including illness type and duration), as well as individual and relational variables. Couples affected by chronic illness develop shared illness representations, which support the patients' adaptation process. Our study was focused on illness representations in five patient groups, considering variables of illness duration and relationship satisfaction.

The Illness Perception Questionnaire was administered to 154 subjects (79 male 75 femaile) and their partners in five illness groups (average illness duration 6.9 years). Marital satisfaction and similarity of illness representations as well as accuracy of estimates about the partner's illness representations were studied.

The five patient groups significantly differed in their illness representations. In groups with longer illness duration, illness was perceived as chronical and more symptoms were experienced. Similarity of illness perceptions between subjects and their partners was highest for the asthma and lung cancer group, and spouses' scores differed most for the dimension of coherence. Marital satisfaction was related to similarity of illness perceptions, and more accurate estimates of the partners' perception.

Marital satisfaction has a remarkable influence on illness representation similarity and accuracy of the perception about the partner's illness representations. Patients and their partners are more likely to form similar illness representations if symptoms are clearly observable as in the case of asthma or lung cancer. The dimension of coherence has significant within-person variations, as illness usually has a deeply personal meaning to both the patients and their partners.