Thesis Title: Illness Perceptions and Sense of Coherence as Predictors of Health Promoting Behaviors in Patients with Chronic Condition
Author Name: Fazeen Fatima
Supervisor: Fatima Kamran
Year: 2017
Degree: MSC
Department: Institute of Applied Psychology
University: Punjab University, Lahore, Pakistan
Corresponding Address: Department of Applied Psychology, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan. Email: chairperson@appsy.pu.edu.pk, Phone: 92-42-9231245
Abstract
The present research aimed to investigate how the sense of coherence and illness perception affects health promoting behaviors of patients with chronic conditions. The sample consisted of (N = 94) patients of chronic conditions (diabetes, hypertension & arthritis) recruited from public sector hospitals of Lahore. It was hypothesized that illness perception and sense of coherence were likely to predict health promoting behaviors (stress management, interpersonal relation, physical activity, nutrition, spiritual growth, and health responsibility) in patients with chronic conditions. Urdu version of Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (Broadbent, Petriea, Main & Weinman, 2005; Kamran & Younas, 2015) was used to measure Patient’s illness perception, Urdu version of Antonovsky’s sense of coherence- 13 (Antonovsky 1987; Jabeen & Khalid, 2010) was used to measure patient’s sense of coherence while Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile (Walker, Sechrist, and Pender, 2010) was used to measure health promoting behaviors. The result revealed that age was positively correlated and consistent predictors of health responsibility, physical activity, nutrition and interpersonal relations and stress management. Moreover, unemployed participants had poor sense of coherence nutrition and stress management while illness perception was negatively correlated and predicted stress management. There was no mediation effect of sense of coherence on illness perceptions and health promoting behaviors. It was also found that women showed more health responsibility, physical activity and spiritual growth.
Keywords:
Illness perceptions coherence, health promoting behaviors, chronic conditions
