Table 1.

Q-statements and factor arrays

Statements		Adaptation profiles
		A	B	C	D
1	Due to my lung disease, I cannot do as much as other people of my age	3	4	0	4
2	I find it difficult to accept that I am not completely healthy	−1	4	2	0
3	I am ashamed of my lung disease	−4	−3	−2	−3
4	I feel equal to others, I just have a lung disease	4	3	1	0
5	I prefer to pretend I don’t have a lung disease	3	0	2	−2
6	I am worried about my health	0	2	−1	3
7	I live a healthy life	−1	1	3	−1
8	I feel healthy	−1	1	0	−4
9	I am not preoccupied with my health very much	0	0	−3	−4
10	I want to know everything about the consequences and the treatment of my lung disease	1	1	1	0
11	I stick to the advice of physicians and other professional helpers	1	2	1	1
12	I adjust my own medication when necessary	1	−1	3	0
13	It is more important to live a pleasant life now than to be compliant with treatment	1	0	0	−1
14	I always take my medication on time	4	2	1	2
15	When you have a lung disease, it is important to learn to say ‘no’ straight away	1	3	2	3
16	I slow down at work to save energy for my activities at home	−1	−1	−3	−1
17	I primarily need my holidays to recover	−4	0	1	0
18	I’d rather not start an activity when I expect it to cause dyspnoea or fatigue	1	−1	−1	0
19	During weekends I am often exhausted	−3	0	0	1
20	People often approach me differently when they know about my lung disease	0	−2	−1	−1
21	When tobacco smoke bothers me, I say so	0	3	1	0
22	My employer knows about my lung disorder	2	1	0	3
23	I find it easy to ask for help from others when I have dyspnoea or fatigue	−1	1	−4	0
24	I try to take my medication without anyone seeing me	2	−4	−1	−2
25	My colleagues do not know that I have a lung disorder	−1	−3	−1	−1
26	My colleagues understand that I cannot do as much as them because of my lung disorder	0	−2	−1	1
27	My employer understands that I cannot do everything because of my lung disorder	0	0	−2	2
28	It is difficult to explain to others what it means to develop dyspnoea or fatigue as quickly as I do	3	−1	0	−1
29	I would sincerely regret it if I could not work anymore	1	2	4	2
30	It would be a solution when I did not have to work anymore	−2	−4	−4	−1
31	My employer does not take my lung disorder into account	−3	−1	0	−3
32	My work is well adapted to my lung disorder	−1	0	−2	−2
33	I try to arrange my work to minimize limitations resulting from my lung disorder	0	1	1	1
34	I have to slow down at work because of my lung disorder	−2	0	−1	2
35	My lung disorder makes me uncertain	−2	−1	−2	1
36	I am ashamed that I do not function well because of my lung disorder	0	−3	0	−3
37	It is difficult that I don’t know now how I will feel tomorrow	2	0	0	4
38	I feel sad about the things I can no longer do	0	−1	−3	0
39	I prefer to take a day off than to take sick leave	0	−2	2	0
40	I find it difficult to take sick leave	−3	−2	4	1
41	When I take sick leave, I increase the workload of others	−2	0	3	−2
42	It is better to take sick leave than to outrun yourself	2	1	0	1

A “+4” score indicates that a typical worker with asthma or COPD in that profile would agree most with that statement, a “−4” score that (s)he would agree least (see also Fig. 1). Statements with a score of +4, +3, −3, or −4 score for a factor (or adaptation profile) are considered to characterize that factor. Values belonging to statements with a statistically different factor rank-order when compared with all other factors (P < .05; in bold type) are considered to distinguish that factor. Values belonging to statements that do not have a statistically significant rank-order for any factor are called consensus items, and are presented in italics