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.

Riegel, B., De Maria, M., Barbaranelli, C., Matarese, M., Ausili, D., Stromberg, A., et al. (2022). Symptom Recognition as a Mediator in the Self-Care of Chronic Illness. FRONTIERS IN PUBLIC HEALTH, 10(17 May 2022) [10.3389/fpubh.2022.883299].

Symptom Recognition as a Mediator in the Self-Care of Chronic Illness

Ausili D.;
2022

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.
Articolo in rivista - Articolo scientifico
chronic disease; chronic illness; interoception; mediation analysis; self-care; self-management; symptom perception; symptom recognition;
English
2022
10
17 May 2022
883299
open
Riegel, B., De Maria, M., Barbaranelli, C., Matarese, M., Ausili, D., Stromberg, A., et al. (2022). Symptom Recognition as a Mediator in the Self-Care of Chronic Illness. FRONTIERS IN PUBLIC HEALTH, 10(17 May 2022) [10.3389/fpubh.2022.883299].
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/391711
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