Department of Psychology, Instituto Piaget, Almada, Portugal.
Psychol Health. 2010 Apr;25(4):507-17. doi: 10.1080/08870440802578961.
The aims of this study were (1) to investigate what are the illness perceptions of hypertensive patients and their relationship with beliefs about specific medicines, and (2) to identify different illness schemata and how they relate to the choice of medication. This was a cross-sectional study in which 191 Portuguese patients (59% females), with a hypertension diagnosis, aged over 18 years old, were recruited from a hospital clinic in the Lisbon Metropolitan area. The questionnaire included measures of choice of medication, beliefs about specific medicines (BMQ-Specific), illness perception (Brief-IPQ), and socio-demographic information. The results indicated that the components of the illness perceptions were associated with patients' beliefs about necessity and concerns about medication. Patients seem to differ in their choice of medication (generic or brand names) according to the three illness schemata identified. Patients with more negative illness schemata were more likely to choose a brand medicine, whereas patients with a more positive perception of hypertension were more likely to choose a generic medicine. Our findings support the argument that illness perceptions and beliefs about medicines play a role in influencing patients' preferences of medicines for the treatment of hypertension.
本研究旨在（1）探讨高血压患者的疾病认知及其与对特定药物的信念之间的关系；（2）识别不同的疾病模式及其与药物选择的关系。这是一项横断面研究，共招募了 191 名来自里斯本大都市区医院诊所的葡萄牙高血压患者（59%为女性），年龄在 18 岁以上。调查问卷包括药物选择、特定药物信念（BMQ-Specific）、疾病认知（Brief-IPQ）和社会人口学信息。结果表明，疾病认知的各个组成部分与患者对药物必要性和对药物的担忧的信念有关。根据确定的三种疾病模式，患者在药物选择（通用名药物或品牌名药物）方面似乎存在差异。具有更消极疾病认知模式的患者更倾向于选择品牌药物，而对高血压有更积极认知的患者更倾向于选择通用名药物。我们的研究结果支持了这样一种观点，即对疾病的认知和对药物的信念在影响患者对治疗高血压的药物偏好方面发挥着作用。
