‘It was all intertwined’: Illness representations and self-management in patients with cancer and anxiety/depression

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Richardson, Emma M., Scott, Jennifer L., Schüz, Natalie, Sanderson, Kristy ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3132-2745 and Schüz, Benjamin (2017) ‘It was all intertwined’: Illness representations and self-management in patients with cancer and anxiety/depression. Psychology and Health, 32 (9). pp. 1082-1108. ISSN 0887-0446

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Abstract

Objective: Cancer and anxiety/depression frequently co-occur, leading to poorer outcomes for these illnesses. However, the majority of existing research investigates how participants view single illnesses alone. This study aimed to explore the content of individuals’ multimorbid representations and how these relate to their coping behaviours and self-management strategies for cancer and anxiety/depression.  Design: A semi-structured qualitative research design with theoretical thematic analysis.  Main Outcome Measures: Multimorbid illness representations, coping behaviours, and self-management strategies.  Results: In interviews with 21 participants multimorbid representations varied, three participants viewed cancer and anxiety/depression as unrelated, five participants were uncertain about the relationship between cancer and anxiety/depression, and the majority of participants perceived cancer and anxiety/depression as related. This third group of participants often described relationships as causal, with representations having both positive and negative influences on coping behaviours and self-management strategies. Representations were shown to change over the course of the cancer experience, with fear of cancer recurrence and the influence of participants’ most challenging illness also discussed.  Conclusions: People hold multimorbid illness representations that can influence self-management. An awareness of these representations by researchers, health professionals, and patients is important for the creation of future interventions that aim to improve and maintain patient wellbeing.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: anxiety,cancer,depression,illness representations,multimorbidity,applied psychology,public health, environmental and occupational health,sdg 3 - good health and well-being ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3200/3202
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > School of Health Sciences
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Health Promotion
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Lifespan Health
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Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 10 Jul 2021 00:06
Last Modified: 19 Oct 2023 03:01
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/80521
DOI: 10.1080/08870446.2017.1324970

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