• Bih-O Lee, Wendy Chaboyer, and Marianne Wallis.
• Department of Nursing, Chung Hwa University of Medical Technology, Taiwan.
• J Nurs Scholarsh. 2008 Jan 1;40(1):83-90.

PurposeExamination of predictors of health related quality of life (HRQoL) with a focus on the ability of illness representations to predict HRQoL 3 months after hospital discharge in patients who experienced moderate to severe traumatic injury.Design And MethodA prospective predictive study, using a survey design was undertaken to identify predictors of HRQoL. Telephone interviews were conducted 3 months after patients were discharged from the hospital. Demographic and clinical data and two scales: the Chinese Illness Perception Questionnaire Revised (IPQ-R, Trauma) and the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36 (SF-36) were used in this study. Simultaneous multiple regressions were used to identify predictors of HRQoL.FindingsA total of 114 participants completed the survey. The most frequently reported symptoms were pain, weight loss, strength loss, and fatigue. The illness representations that scored the highest were Illness coherence, Controllability, and Consequences. The average SF-36 physical summary score was lower than the average mental summary score. Role (physical) had the lowest scores on the physical subscale and vitality had the lowest scores on the mental subscale. Significant predictors of the physical summary score were identity, consequences, timeline (acute/chronic), age, and injury severity score (ISS), and for the mental summary score predictors were identity, emotional representations, and timeline.ConclusionsIllness representations can be used to predict HRQoL 3 months after traumatic injury. These findings can help clinicians to understand illness perceptions of patients with traumatic injury, and help provide a foundation for an interventional program to help patients have better HRQoL following traumatic injury.Clinical RelevanceBy understanding patients' illness representations, clinicians could provide information related to postinjury care to facilitate more congruent representations between expectations and real situations. By helping patients understand the important role early interventions might play in their recovery, clinicians might help patients develop more positive cognitive representations.

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