Measurement of psycho-emotional constructs and self-management in health of patients with inflammatory bowel diseases

Abstract

This study intended to measure the scores of psych-emotional constructs and self-management in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), compare those scores according to the type of IBD, and verify the influence of these measures on self-management in health. This is a cross-sectional study performed at the outpatient clinic of a public Hospital. The patients were adults and diagnosed with IBD; they answered instruments of measure of self-esteem, anxiety and depression, health status and of activation. Pearson's correlation test and Student's t test evaluated the variables of interest. The level of significance was 0.05. We evaluated 65 patients (average age = 40.71; SD = 14.26). We found high score of activation (average = 57.5; SD = 13.38) and high score of self-esteem (average = 31.58; SD = 4.98), moderate score of anxiety (average = 8.24; SD = 4.38) and low score of depression (average = 5.47; SD = 3.53). Significant correlations were observed, from low to moderate magnitude, between the other measures and activation (p < 0.05). There were weak correlations between activation and time since diagnosis; anxiety and number of comorbidities (p < 0.05). We have concluded that patients with IBD presented high self-esteem, moderate levels of anxiety, low levels of depression and a high level of activation. Longer time since diagnosis was related with better self-management in health.