Symptom recognition as a mediator in the self-care of chronic illness
Journal article
Riegel, Barbara, De Maria, Maddalena, Barbaranelli, Claudio, Matarese, Maria, Ausili, Davide, Stromberg, Anna, Vellone, Ercole and Jaarsma, Tiny. (2022). Symptom recognition as a mediator in the self-care of chronic illness. Frontiers in Public Health. 10, p. Article 883299. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.883299
Authors | Riegel, Barbara, De Maria, Maddalena, Barbaranelli, Claudio, Matarese, Maria, Ausili, Davide, Stromberg, Anna, Vellone, Ercole and Jaarsma, Tiny |
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Abstract | Background: The recognition of a symptom is needed to initiate a decision to engage in a behavior to ameliorate the symptom. Yet, a surprising number of individuals fail to detect symptoms and delay in addressing early warnings of a health problem. Purpose: The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that symptom recognition mediates the relationship between monitoring for and management of symptoms of a chronic illness. Methods: A secondary analysis of existing cross-sectional data. A sample of 1,629 patients diagnosed with one or more chronic conditions was enrolled in the United States (US) (n = 407), Italy (n = 784) and Sweden (n = 438) between March 2015 and May 2019. Data on self-care monitoring, symptom recognition, and self-care management was assessed using the Self-Care of Chronic Illness Inventory. After confirming metric invariance in cultural assessment, we used structural equation modeling to test a mediation model where symptom recognition was conceptualized as the mediator linking self-care monitoring and self-care management with autonomous (e.g., Change your activity level) and consulting behaviors (e.g., Call your healthcare provider for guidance). Results: Symptom recognition mediated the relation between self-care monitoring and autonomous self-care management behaviors (β = 0.098, β = 0.122, β = 0.081, p < 0.001 for US, Italy, and Sweden, respectively). No mediation effect was found for consulting self-care management behaviors. Conclusion: Our findings suggests that symptom recognition promotes autonomous self-care behaviors in people with a chronic condition. Self-care monitoring directly affects consulting self-care management behaviors but not through symptom recognition. Further research is needed to fully understand the role of symptom recognition in the self-care process. |
Keywords | self-care; self-management; chronic illness; chronic disease; symptom perception; interoception; mediation analysis; symptom recognition |
Year | 2022 |
Journal | Frontiers in Public Health |
Journal citation | 10, p. Article 883299 |
Publisher | Frontiers Research Foundation |
ISSN | 2296-2565 |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.883299 |
PubMed ID | 35655456 |
Scopus EID | 2-s2.0-85131337575 |
PubMed Central ID | PMC9152258 |
Open access | Published as ‘gold’ (paid) open access |
Page range | 1-9 |
Publisher's version | License File Access Level Open |
Output status | Published |
Publication dates | |
Online | 17 May 2022 |
Publication process dates | |
Accepted | 19 Apr 2022 |
Deposited | 17 Mar 2023 |
https://acuresearchbank.acu.edu.au/item/8ywy9/symptom-recognition-as-a-mediator-in-the-self-care-of-chronic-illness
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Publisher's version
OA_Riegel_2022_Symptom_recognition_as_a_mediator_in.pdf | |
License: CC BY 4.0 | |
File access level: Open |
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