Illness representations, knowledge and motivation to perform presymptomatic testing for late-onset genetic diseases

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2017

Authors

Leite, A (Author) Other; Dinis, MAP (Author) Other; Sequeiros, J (Author) Other; Constança Paúl (Author) ICBAS

Journal

Title: Psychology, Health and Medicine

Vol. 22

Pages: 244-249

ISSN: 1354-8506

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 4 Citations

Scopus - 4 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00K-787

DOI: 10.1080/13548506.2016.1159704

Abstract (EN): This study addresses the relation between illness representations, knowledge and motivation to perform the presymptomatic testing (PST) of subjects at-risk for Familial Amyloydotic Polyneuropathy (FAP), Huntington's disease (HD) and Machado-Joseph disease (MJD), compared with subjects at-risk for Hereditary Hemochromatosis (HH). The sample comprised a clinical group of 213 subjects at genetic risk for FAP, HD and MJD, and a comparison group of 31 subjects at genetic risk for HH, that answered three open-ended questions relating illness representations, knowledge about the disease, and motivation to perform PST. People at-risk for FAP, HD and MJD use more metaphors, make more references to the family, are more concerned with the future and feel more out of curiosity and to learn, than for HH. These subjects at-risk correspond to the profile of somatic individual or personhood, wherein the unsubjectivation of the disease can function as a coping mechanism.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 6