Page 154 - THE PERCEPT STUDY Illness Perceptions in Physiotherapy Edwin de Raaij

Chapter 8
The assessment of IPs has evolved from interviews to validated questionnaires. Three ques- tionnaires can be discerned:
1. The IPQ, an 80-item Illness Perception Questionnaire published in 1996 which explicitly assesses the five IP dimensions40.
2. The IPQ-R, an over 80-item Illness Perception Questionnaire Revised is the revised ver- sion of the IPQ. It deals with psychometric problems by selection of items through principal component analysis, whereby four additional dimensions were added (Personal/Treatment Control, Coherence, Emotional Response) 28.
3. The Brief IPQ, an 9-item Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire was developed for clinicians and researchers to assess IPs concisely 6. The Concern dimension was added.
In this thesis, a Dutch version of the Brief IPQ is presented to assess IPs in daily physiotherapy practice in The Netherlands. Further, we present a literature overview of the existing asso- ciations and prognosis of IPs on MSP and functioning and we explore these associations in primary physiotherapy care in The Netherlands. Finally, we study the impact of a matched care physiotherapy package, matched to dysfunctional IPs, and MSP and physical functioning. In this thesis, three themes (ie. measurement, association / prediction and treatment) are ex- plored for their contribution to physiotherapy management of MSP in general, and especially for low back pain.
First, we cross-culturally adapted and assessed psychometric properties of a Brief Illness Per- ception Questionnaire Dutch Language Version (Brief IPQ-DLV). The aim of the project was to provide a questionnaire which would be easy to use in daily practice and could be used in consecutive research projects of this thesis.
Secondly, we aimed to assess the associations between IPs on the one hand and MSP and physical functioning on the other hand, by systematically describing current literature and by exploring these associations in cross-sectional studies and in longitudinal studies in physio- therapy primary care settings.
Thirdly, we explored the possible effectiveness of a physiotherapy intervention by targeting IPs in order to improve patients’ musculoskeletal condition e.g., pain and physical functioning These three themes will be discussed in this general discussion.
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