Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1991. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
DIMENSIONALIZATION OF ILLNESS.
Diss Abstr Int [A]; 51(7):2273 1991. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE ICDB/91671042 Long AM; Univ. of California, Los Angeles
Abstract:
The way people think about illness relates to both illness behaviors and how they perceive and behave towards ill individuals. In order to better understand these behaviors, an implicit taxonomy, allowing for a comprehensive approach to the examination of a diverse set of illnesses is needed. This dissertation examined the way that illnesses are organized, and the illness characteristics utilized in this process, by examining the a priori dimensionalization of serious illness. In Part One of the study, nurses and lay persons completed paired dissimilarity ratings of twenty-four conditions (eg, AIDS, alcoholism, Alzheimer's disease, syndrome, epilepsy, heart disease, hypertension, leukemia, lung cancer, mental retardation, obesity, schizophrenia, etc.). These ratings were subjected to multidimensional scaling (MDS) analyses. In Part Two of the study, lay and nursing subjects rated the twenty-four conditions on seventeen illness characteristics which served as dependent variables in regressions used to label the multidimensional solutions identified in Part One. MDS analysis of the combined lay and nursing data revealed a three dimensional structure distinguishing conditions based upon: (1) disabling effects and onset controllability; (2) offset controllability; and (3) moral repugnance. The first dimension of this structure clearly differentiated physical diseases from disabling conditions, forming two distinct clusters of illnesses. In order to elucidate the underlying structures of each cluster, separate MDS analyses were performed, resulting in two distinctly different MDS structures. Disabling conditions were distinguished by: (1) moral repugnance; and (2) type of condition (physical vs sensory). Constructs important in distinguishing among physical diseases included: (1) contagion; (2) chronicity; and (3) moral repugnance. Implications for perceptions of and behavior towards ill individuals, public health and professional education and public policy are discussed. (Full text available from University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, MI, as Order No. AAD90-35229).
Keywords: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/NURSING/PSYCHOLOGY Attitude of Health Personnel *Attitude to Health Behavior Human Neoplasms/NURSING/PSYCHOLOGY THESIS 910430
M9140682
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Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1991. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
