Abstract

OGUNRINDE, Babajide J.; ADETUNJI, Adedotun A.; MUYIBI, Sufiyan A.  and  AKINYEMI, Joshua O.. Illness perception amongst adults with multimorbidity at primary care clinics in Southwest Nigeria. Afr. j. prim. health care fam. med. (Online) [online]. 2021, vol.13, n.1, pp.1-8. ISSN 2071-2936.  http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/phcfm.v13i1.2738.

BACKGROUND: Although shreds of evidence are emerging to show the role of illness perceptions in the health outcomes of patients, most of the previous studies have been on single chronic conditionsAIM: To assess the illness perceptions and the associated factors amongst adults with multimorbiditySETTING: General outpatient clinics of the University College Hospital, Ibadan, NigeriaMETHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted amongst a systematic sample of 403 adults with multimorbidity. Data on illness perception and other variables were collected using interviewer-administered questionnaires. Descriptive statistics, chi-square test, t-test and analysis of variance were employed for analysesRESULTS: The age of the participants ranged from 18 to 97 years, with a mean of 60.9 years (standard deviation [s.d.] ± 14.3 years). The majority of participants (57.3%) were women. Ninety-four (23.3%) respondents had only two morbid conditions, whilst 31.2% had at least four morbid conditions. Prioritisation sub-domain of illness perception recorded the highest score (mean = 2.0, s.d. ± 0.8), whilst the treatment burden sub-domain was the lowest (mean = 0.8, s.d. ± 0.7). A significant bivariate relationship was observed between emotional representation (p = 0.001), prioritisation (p = 0.013) and causal relationship (p = 0.013) sub-domains and age group of study participants. Emotional burden associated with illnesses declined as educational level increased (p = 0.039CONCLUSION: Patient's characteristics such as age, education and the number of morbidities are associated with illness perception. Healthcare providers should pay attention to these factors whilst addressing illness perception as a way to achieve better clinical outcomes

Keywords : multimorbidity; illness perception; socio-demographic characteristics; Nigeria; primary care; chronic disease.

        · text in English     · English ( pdf )