Page 120 - THE PERCEPT STUDY Illness Perceptions in Physiotherapy Edwin de Raaij

Chapter 6
Outcome scores in Figure 2 suggest little change in time for IPs dimensions Treatment Control and Coherence. However, when assessing an IPs question about Coherence, one should take notice of the fact that a patient may well report a high score on item 7, but this may not mean that the illness is well understood. A patient might be convinced of having a correct understanding of the illness, but from a medical point of view, such understanding may well be incorrect. In our case report, the patient believed prior to treatment that her activity limitations were due to the medical condition (OA) of her knee and aging. After treatment the patient realized these were dysfunctional perceptions and that her current level of activities was not affected by her medical condition. In addition, the patient’s beliefs about Treatment Control had changed from an external locus of control (therapist will help) to an internal locus of control (I can help my self). PTs should also try to find out the rationale behind the IPs.
The change in IPs outcome during three months of physical therapy can well be seen as a change from dysfunctional IPs to adaptive IPs. Assessing IPs in order to change the way people experience their disease may help PT’s to cope with possibly less limitations in physical functioning.
Further research in large samples of patients is needed to explore the associations between IPs and limitations in physical functioning.
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