Relationships between Illness Perception, Fatigue, and Life Satisfaction in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Objective: The study was conducted to determine the relationships among illness perception, fatigue level, and life satisfaction among individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).Methods: The population of the descriptive study consisted of COPD patients treated at the Chest Diseases and Thoracic Surgery Centre. The sample of the study consisted of patients (n=152) who applied to the centre between July 2017 and January 2018 and met the inclusion criteria. Descriptive Form, The Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ), COPD and Asthma Fatigue Scale (CAFS) and Satisfaction with Life Scale (SLS) were used to collect the data.Results: The mean scores of the IPQ are a identity sub-dimension 7.39±2.61, B identity 6.61±2.42, duration(acute/chronic) perception 18.18±2.96, consequences perception 19.62±4.44, personal control perception 17.71±3.81, treatment control perception 14.46±3.22, perception of understanding the disease 13.97±3.58, perception of duration(cyclical) 14.36±3.39, perception of emotional representations 21.48±5.04, psychological attributions for possible causes of the disease 14.83±4.82, risk factors 18.09±4.32, immunity 9.63±3.14, accident or chance 4.11±1.85. The mean CAFS score was 63.28±14.05 and the mean SLS was 21.03±7.18. There was no statistically significant relationship between the mean fatigue score and life satisfaction (p>0.05).Conclusion: Assessing illness perception together with fatigue and life satisfaction may provide a more comprehensive understanding of the psychosocial needs of patients with COPD. Incorporating illness perception into routine nursing assessment may support individualized care planning, while future longitudinal studies are needed to clarify these associations.