Psychosocial Adaptation Among Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients and Associated Factors: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Purpose

Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) suffer from physical symptoms and psychosocial issues. This generates risks of psychosocial maladjustment that is closely linked with self-care ability and health-related quality of life. The study aimed to explore psychosocial adaptation of IBD patients in China and the influencing factors from individual and family levels.

Patients and Methods

Using a cross-sectional design, 191 Chinese patients with IBD were recruited from October 2020 to September 2021. General information questionnaire, general family functioning scale, resilience scale for IBD, and psychosocial adaptation questionnaire for IBD were used for investigation. Multivariate linear regression was used to identify predictive factors of psychosocial adaptation.

Results

IBD patients reported a moderate level of psychosocial adaptation. Regression analysis showed that personal resilience especially the three dimensions (i.e., positive illness perception, disease management, and support from fellow IBD patients), general family functioning, and disease conditions (i.e., extra-intestinal manifestations and current disease status) were the main contributing factors of psychosocial adaptation, explaining 49.3% of the total variance.

Conclusion

The findings suggest that healthcare providers could focus on improving patients’ illness perception about IBD and strengthening their disease management abilities, together with optimizing patients’ family functioning to enhance their psychosocial adaptation level.

Keywords:

• inflammatory bowel disease
• psychosocial adaptation
• family functioning
• resilience

Data Sharing Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to sincerely thank the patients for their participation in this study. The authors also appreciate the support and assistance from the chief physicians (Dr. Ding and Dr. Wu) and nurses in the Department of Gastroenterology of the Hospital during the process of approaching patients.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.