Abstract

ALTENHOFEN, Viviane  and  CASTRO, Elisa Kern de. Cardiac illness perception and diagnosis communication. Psic., Saúde & Doenças [online]. 2018, vol.19, n.3, pp.515-525. ISSN 1645-0086.  https://doi.org/10.15309/18psd19030104.

The way as the doctor communicates cardiac illness diagnosis to patient may have implications on the patient's perception of his disease, which, in turn, possibly influence on its care. The purpose of this study is to evaluate illness perception on cardiac patients and it's relation with diagnosis communication content perception (identity, causes, consequences, timeline, treatment and personal control, coherence and emotional representation). The study was carried out with 71 adult cardiac patients, undergoing treatment in a regional hospital in the south of Brazil, who answered a sociodemographic questionnaire, a questionnaire of illness perception and a questionnaire about the perception of the information supplied during diagnosis. No significant correlation between cardiac illness perception and the content of the information supplied with diagnosis was found. However, gender related differences were found; women assigned more symptoms to the disease and perceived the symptoms as more cyclical than man. Conclusions: illness perception does not depend of the doctor’s diagnosis communication, finding signs that it may be produce prior to the disease itself.

Keywords : cardiac diseases; illness perception; self-regulation; communication.

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