Psychological Reactions to Physical Illness V1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Psychological Reactions to Physical Illness
IRAS ID
216580
Contact name
Zoe Mawby
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 5 months, 30 days
Research summary
Summary of Research
This research is interested in finding out more about the psychological impact of living with the following chronic health conditions; Inflammatory Arthritis (IA; including Rheumatoid Arthritis and Psoriatic Arthritis) and Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD).
Existing research suggests that in people who have experienced trauma a cognitive process called mental defeat (MD) can occur. MD influences the individuals appraisal of a situation in a negative way; the individual feels that they have no control over their future outcomes, that their efforts to cope are futile and they lose their sense of identity as an autonomous human being. This leads to higher psychological distress and has been linked to poor treatment response and increased suicidality.
MD has been found to exist in chronic pain (where the repeated experience of pain has been likened to trauma) and also in cancer survivors but little is known about it in other chronic health conditions.
This research aims to explore whether a similar state of MD occurs in individuals living with IA and CKD. It is important to know whether MD occurs in these chronic conditions as we know that psychological distress is higher in chronic conditions than the average population. If we know that a specific cognitive process occurs in certain conditions this can be targeted in treatment (e.g. cognitive therapy) to reduce this distress and improve the individual’s experience of their chronic condition.
A number of questionnaires will be used to gather information on levels of mental defeat, pain and distress, among other variables, from 60 outpatients who have IA or 60 outpatients who have CKD. Participants will be recruited via outpatient clinics and also online via charity websites. The questionnaires will take roughly 20-25 minutes to complete and a £2 donation will be made to charity (of the respective chronic conditions) for each participant.
Summary of Results
‘Mental defeat’ refers to thought processes that result in an individual ‘giving up’ their active coping in the face of traumatic events. This study aimed to explore whether mental defeat occurs in different long term physical health conditions.
Design: This study used a questionnaire at one time point with two groups of participants – those with Inflammatory Arthritis (a painful condition of the joints) and Chronic Kidney Disease (a kidney condition that causes various symptoms). Participants in both groups answered questions about their experience of their health condition and their thoughts and feelings about it. The data were analysed (using a mixed model ANOVA and stepwise regressions).
Results: There were no significant differences in levels of mental defeat between the two groups. However, both groups reported higher levels of mental defeat than healthy controls (those without long term physical health conditions). Higher levels of distress were associated with higher levels of mental defeat, health anxiety, disability and catastrophizing (seeing things as disastrous). Further analyses showed that higher levels of mental defeat and health anxiety and an older age made it more likely for participants to have fears that their disease would get worse. Conclusion: Mental defeat occurred in both long-term conditions in this study and there was no difference between the two conditions. Mental defeat was associated with psychological distress and fear of disease progression.REC name
Wales REC 7
REC reference
17/WA/0094
Date of REC Opinion
13 Apr 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion