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Review
. 2019 Apr 23;6(1):2055102919844504.
doi: 10.1177/2055102919844504. eCollection 2019 Jan-Jun.

Illness perception and high readmission health outcomes

Amanda T Sawyer  1 , Stephanie L Harris  1 , Harold G Koenig  2
Affiliations
Review

Illness perception and high readmission health outcomes

Amanda T Sawyer et al. Health Psychol Open. .

Abstract

This review identified associations between illness perception and health outcomes of patients with a medical diagnosis included in the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program. Inclusion criteria were English language, use of quantitative methodology, health outcomes specified, and identifiable effect size and statistical significance of the relationship. Most of the 31 studies in this review showed that favorable illness perception has been associated with better health outcomes, while unfavorable illness perception has been associated with worse outcomes. A multifaceted approach might include behavioral, clinical, educational, and psychosocial components to improve one's illness perception through educative, cognitive-behavioral, or psychodynamic counseling.

Keywords: acute illness; chronic illness; illness perception; physical symptoms; quality of life.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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