Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T02:15:02.024Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Illness Perceptions: Are Beliefs About Mental Health Problems Associated with Self-Perceptions of Engagement in People with Psychosis?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 November 2010

Katie Williams*
Affiliation:
2gether NHS Foundation Trust, Gloucester, UK
Hannah Steer
Affiliation:
2gether NHS Foundation Trust, Gloucester, UK
*
Reprint requests to Katie Williams, Psychological Therapies Service, Burleigh House, Nettleton Road, Gloucester GL1 1QD, UK. E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Background: The Self-Regulation Model (SRM) has been presented as a framework for assessing the perceptions people hold about their mental health problem. Currently no direct attempts have been made to assess the association between illness perceptions and engagement in psychosis. Engagement is an important issue for health professionals providing support to people with psychosis; therefore, research demonstrating a link between illness perceptions and engagement may enable targeted interventions to facilitate engagement and enhance outcome. Aim: To assess whether beliefs about mental health are associated with self-perceptions of engagement in people with psychosis. Method: Participants with psychosis completed two questionnaires; beliefs about mental health and self-perceptions of engagement with mental health services. Results: A belief that the mental health difficulty has fewer negative consequences, increased perceptions of personal ability to control the mental health difficulty, a belief that treatment is helpful in controlling symptoms and a more coherent understanding of the mental health difficulty were all associated with higher self-perception engagement scores. Multivariate analyses indicated that a more coherent understanding and a belief that treatment is helpful were the strongest and most consistent predictors of higher self-perception engagement scores. However, the direction of the associations cannot be established. Conclusions: This study suggests that the SRM is a promising model for mental health problems and that beliefs about mental health are associated with self-perceptions of engagement in people with psychosis. The importance of further intervention-based research studies that examines causality is highlighted.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Birchwood, M., Meaden, A., Trower, P., Gilbert, P. and Plaistow, J. (2000). The power and omnipotence of voices: subordination and entrapment by voices and significant others. Psychological Medicine, 30, 337344.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Broadbent, E., Petrie, K. J., Main, J. and Weinman, J. (2006). The brief illness perception questionnaire (BIPQ). Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 60, 631637.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broadbent, E., Kydd, R., Sanders, D. and Vanderpyl, J. (2008). Unmet needs and treatment seeking in high users of mental health services: role of illness perceptions. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 42, 147153.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clifford, C. (1998). Compliance with Medication in Psychiatric Patients: the self-regulatory model and the health beliefs models. Master of Health Psychology Thesis, University of Surrey.Google Scholar
Cohen, J. (1992). A power primer. Psychological Bulletin, 112, 155159.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Connor, M. and Norman, P. (1995). The role of social cognition in health behaviours. In Connor, M. and Norman, P. (Eds.), Predicting Health Behaviour: research and practice with social cognition models (pp. 123). Buckingham, PA: OUP.Google Scholar
Corrigan, P. W., Liberman, R. P. and Engle, J. D. (1990). From noncompliance to collaboration in the treatment of schizophrenia. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 41, 12031211.Google ScholarPubMed
Drake, R., Gates, C. and Cotton, T. (1986). Suicide amongst schizophrenics: a comparison of attempters and completed suicides. British Journal of Psychiatry, 149, 784787.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drake, R. J., Hayley, C. J., Akhtar, S. and Lewis, S. W. (2000). Causes and consequences of duration of untreated psychosis in schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 177, 511515.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dudley, R., Siitarinen, J., James, I. and Dodgson, G. (2009). What do people with psychosis think caused their psychosis? A Q methodology study. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 37, 1124.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dwight-Johnson, M., Unûtzer, J., Sherbourne, C., Tang, L. and Wells, K. (2001). Can quality improvement programs for depression in primary care address patient preferences for treatment? Medical Care, 39, 934944.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eells, T. D. (Ed.) (1997). Handbook of Psychotherapy Case Formulation. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Field, A. P. (2000). Discovering Statistics Using SPSS for Windows: advanced techniques for the beginner. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Garety, P. A. and Hemsley, D. R. (1994). Delusions: investigations into the psychology of delusional reasoning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Garety, P. A., Kuipers, E. K., Fowler, D., Freeman, D. and Bebbington, P. E. (2001). A cognitive model of the positive symptoms of psychosis. Psychological Medicine, 31, 189195.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gibson, P. G., Coughlan, J., Wilson, A. J., Abramson, M., Bauman, A., Hensley, M. J. and Walters, E. H. (2000). Self-management education and regular practitioner review for adults with asthma. Cochrane Database Systematic Review, 2:CD001117.Google Scholar
Gillespie, M., Smith, J., Meaden, A., Jones, C. and Wane, J. (2004). Clients' engagement with assertive outreach services: a comparison of client and staff perceptions of engagement and its impact on later engagement. Journal of Mental Health, 13, 439452.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, M., Meaden, A., Smith, J. and Jones, C. (2001). The development of psychometric properties of an observer rated measure of engagement with mental health services. Journal of Mental Health, 10, 457465.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hampson, S. E., Glasgow, R. E. and Toobert, D. J. (1990). Personal models of diabetes and their relations to self-care activities. Health Psychology, 9, 632646.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Horne, R. and Weinman, J. (2002). Self-regulation and self-management in asthma: exploring the role of illness perceptions and treatment beliefs in explaining non-adherence to preventer medication. Psychology and Health, 17, 1732.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Janz, N. K. and Becker, M. H. (1984). The health belief model: a decade later. Health Education Quarterly, 11, 147.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kane, J. M. (1985). Compliance issues in outpatient treatment. Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, 5, 22S27SCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kuipers, E., Watson, P., Onwumere, J., Bebbington, P., Dunn, G., Weinman, J., Fowler, D., Freeman, D., Hardy, A., Leventhal, H., Diefenbach, M. and Leventhal, E. A. (2007). Illness cognitions: using common sense to understand treatment adherence and affect cognition interactions. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 16, 143163.Google Scholar
Leventhal, H., Nerenz, D. R. and Steele, D. F. (1984). Illness representations and coping with health threats. In Baum, A. and Singer, J. (Eds.), A Handbook of Psychology and Health (pp. 229252). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Lobban, F., Barrowclough, C. and Jones, S. (2003). A review of the role of illness models in severe mental illness. Clinical Psychology Review, 23, 171196.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lobban, F., Barrowclough, C. and Jones, S. (2004). The impact of beliefs about mental health problems and coping on outcome in schizophrenia. Psychological Medicine, 34, 11651176.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lobban, F., Barrowclough, C. and Jones, S. (2005). Assessing cognitive representations of mental health problems. I: the illness perceptions questionnaire for schizophrenia. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 44, 147162.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meaden, A., Nithsdale, V., Rose, C., Smith, J. and Jones, C. (2004). Is engagement associated with outcome in assertive outreach? Journal of Mental Health, 13, 415424.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meuser, K. T., Bond, G. R., Drake, R. E. and Resnick, S. G. (1998). Models of community care for severe mental illness: a review of the research on case management. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 24, 3774.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morrison, A. P. (2001). The interpretation of intrusions in psychosis: an integrative cognitive approach to hallucinations and delusions. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 29, 257276.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pallant, J. (2007). SPSS Survival Manual: a step-by-step guide to data analysis using SPSS version 15. Berkshire: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Perry, B. M., Taylor, D. and Shaw, S. K. (2007). “You've got to have a positive state of mind”: an interpretative phenomenological analysis of hope and first episode psychosis. Journal of Mental Health, 16, 781793.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petrie, K. and Weinman, J. (1997). Perceptions of Health and Illness: current research and applications. Amsterdam: Harwood Academic.Google Scholar
Petrie, K. J., Cameron, L. D., Ellis, C. J., Buick, D. and Weinman, J. (2002). Changing illness perceptions following myocardial infarction: an early intervention randomized controlled trial. Psychosomatic Medicine, 64, 580586.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pilling, S., Bebbington, , Kuipers, P., Garety, P., Geddeds, J., Orbach, G. and Morgan, C. (2002). Psychological treatments in schizophrenia. I: meta-analysis of family intervention and cognitive behaviour therapy. Psychological Medicine, 32, 763782.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pollack, L. E. and Aponte, M. (2001). Patients' perceptions of their bipolar illness in a public hospital setting. Psychiatric Quarterly, 72, 167179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Priebe, S., Watts, J., Chase, M. and Matanov, A. (2005). Processes of disengagement and engagement in assertive outreach patients: qualitative study. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 187, 438443.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rokke, P., Tomhave, J. and Jocic, Z. (1999). The role of client choice and target selection in self-management therapy for depression in older adults. Psychological Aging, 14, 155169.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (1998). Keys to Engagement: review of care for people with severe mental illness who are hard to engage with services. London: Sainsbury Centre Publications.Google Scholar
Song, L., Biegel, D. E. and Johnsen, J. A. (1998). Predictors of psychiatric rehospitalisation for persons with serious and persistent mental illness. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 22, 155166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watson, P. W. B., Gartey, P. A., Weinman, J., Dunn, G., Bebbington, P. E., Fowler, D., Freeman, D. and Kuipers, E. (2006). Emotional dysfunction in schizophrenia spectrum psychosis: the role of illness perceptions. Psychological Medicine, 10, 110.Google Scholar
White, R. G., McCleery, M., Gumley, A. I. and Mulholland, C. (2007). Hopelessness in schizophrenia: the impact of symptoms and beliefs about illness. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 195, 968975.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wichowski, H. C. and Kubsch, S. M. (1997). The relationship of self-perception of illness and compliance with health-care regimens. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 25, 548553.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yanos, P. T. and Moos, R. H. (2007). Determinants of functioning and well-being among individuals with schizophrenia: an integrated model. Clinical Psychology Review, 27, 5877.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.