Table 2.
Item responses of illness representations on pneumonia (n = 483)
| |
% |
Mean (SD) |
| Timeline-chronic (considering whether pneumonia is chronic) (% agree/strongly agree) | ||
| Pneumonia will last a short time (R) | 4.6 | |
| Pneumonia is likely to be permanent rather than temporary | 3.5 | |
| Pneumonia will last for a long time | 7.5 | |
| Pneumonia will pass quickly (R) | 3.5 | |
| Pneumococcus will exist in my body for the rest of my life | 0.8 | |
| Timeline (Mean/SD) | 14.9 (1.3) | |
| Consequence (assessing the severity of pneumonia) (% agree/strongly agree) | ||
| Pneumonia is a serious condition | 15.9 | |
| Pneumonia has major consequences on my life | 7.5 | |
| Pneumonia does not have much effect on my life (R) | 3.9 | |
| Pneumonia strongly affects the way others see me | 1.7 | |
| Pneumonia has serious financial consequences | 10.8 | |
| Pneumonia causes difficulties for those who are close to me | 14.7 | |
| Consequence (Mean/SD) | 18.3 (1.7) | |
| Treatment control (considering whether pneumonia can be controlled by existing treatment) (% agree/strongly agree) | ||
| There is very little that can be done to cure pneumonia (R) | 2.1 | |
| Treatment will be effective in curing pneumonia | 22.2 | |
| The negative effects of pneumonia can be avoided by treatment | 22.4 | |
| Treatment can control pneumonia | 24.2 | |
| There is nothing which can help for curing pneumonia (R) | 2.9 | |
| Treatment control (Mean/SD) | 16.2 (2.4) | |
| Emotional representation (negative feeling due to pneumonia) (% agree/strongly agree) | ||
| I get depressed when I think about pneumonia | 38.1 | |
| When I think about pneumonia, I get upset | 35.6 | |
| Pneumonia makes me feel angry | 17.8 | |
| Pneumonia does not worry me (R) | 6.4 | |
| Having pneumonia makes me feel anxious | 28.4 | |
| Pneumonia makes me feel afraid | 39.3 | |
| Emotional representation (Mean/SD) | 18.3 (4.5) |
R: reverse scoring, SD: standard deviation
Items of the subscales on timeline-chronic, consequences, treatment control, and emotional responses were rated on a 5-point Likert Scale (1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = neutral, 4 = agree, and 5 = strongly agree).
Higher scores on timeline-chronic, consequences and emotional representation indicated more negative illness representations. Higher score on treatment control indicated more positive illness representations.