Illness beliefs and treatment adherence in atrial fibrillations patients

Abstract

The present study examined illness beliefs of atrial fibrillation (AF) patients and their anticoagulation treatment adherence. Four dimensions of illness beliefs were proposed and operationalized by means of a questionnaire developed for this study. In particular, these dimensions are illness awareness, uncertainty of illness manifestations, unpredictable character of illness course and illness control. It was found that the anticoagulation treatment adherence was positively associated with the illness awareness and negatively associated with the uncertainty of illness manifestations. Three clusters of patients were distinguished based on the illness beliefs patterns: “well-informed about illness” (33,8%), “denying illness” (19,9%), “uncertain about illness” (42,6%). The well-informed cluster of patients demonstrated higher treatment adherence compared to the other clusters, which did not differ one from the other in this respect. The proposed approach to illness beliefs and their patterns is considered with respect to development of medical and psychological care for patients with AF.