Exploring the Relationships Between Health Status, Illness Perceptions, Coping Strategies and Psychological Morbidity in a Chronic Kidney Disease Cohort

The results provide evidence that it is the perception of an illness rather than the actual symptoms themselves that best account for adaption to CKD. These findings suggest that intervention strategies aimed at increasing psychological well-being need to focus on changing illness perceptions rather than improving symptoms of CKD or coping mechanisms.