Effects of Stress on Chronic Illness, Article Critique Example

In their article entitled Life Context and the Experience of Chronic Illness: Is the Stress of Life Associated with Illness Perception and Coping, researchers sought to understand more about the relationship between life stress and the way that patient perceive and deal with their chronic illness.  The follow paper seeks to summarize the article and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the study.

Summary of Article

In this study, researchers sought to find out more about the relationship between “broader life context” (life stress) and the way patients both perceive their illness and the coping strategies they adopt to manage it.  101 chronically ill patients participated in this study. Patient filled out a questionnaire related to general coping techniques, and also filled out a Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire, a Life Stress Scale and an EQ-SD questionnaire to measure overall quality of life. They found that their hypothesis was true and that “life stress intensifies the aversiveness of the illness experience and thus is related to illness perception and coping” (Evangelos, et. al., 2009, p. 411).  Given these results, the researchers called for more studies on the relationship between stress and chronic illness.

Evaluation of Article

Studies done to assess the consequences of stress could be very beneficial. In a recent article in the Malays Journal of Medical Science, for instance, the author Dr. Sellah notes that, “the relationship between stress and illness is complex.  It …varies from person to person.  Among the factors that influence susceptibility to stress are genetic vulnerability, coping styles, type of personality and social support” (Sellah, 2013, p. 10).  Helping patients cope with stress is a very important part of any healthcare provider’s job, so any studies that help lead to a better understanding of stress would be very beneficial to both clinician and patient.  This is particularly true for patients with chronic conditions; the American Psychological Association notes that “chronic illness can force many potentially stressful lifestyle changes, such as giving up cherished activities, adapting to new physical limitations, special needs, and paying for what can be expensive medications and treatments” (American Psychological Association, 2013, p. 2).  However, as the authors themselves point out, there are some limitations to this study.  One troubling limitation is the scale used to assess patient’s stress, which the authors admit is “brief and generic” (Evangelos, et. al., 2009, p. 412). Stress can, in fact, be a complex and sometimes intangible thing, and the World Health Organization writes that it can encompass “a wide range of emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and somatic symptoms” (World Health Organization, 2010, p. 3).  Therefore, finding a more sensitive way of measuring this complicated phenomenon would be very helpful in future studies.

Conclusion

For patients with chronic conditions, especially, life stress can affect the way they perceive and cope with their illness. These factors, in turn, can have a strong effect on patient outcomes.  Studies like this are useful, because they help clinicians to better understand this relationship and therefore more likely to be able to successfully assess their patients for stress in order to ensure that those outcomes are as optimal as possible.

Works Cited

American Psychological Association. (2013). Chronic Illness.  American Psychological Association Website. Retrieved from www.apa.org/helpcenter/chronic.aspx

Evangelos, C.K., et. al. (2009). Life Context and the Experience of Chronic Illness: Is the Stress of Life Associated with Illness Perception and Coping? Stress and Health.  25 405-412

Salleh, M. R.  (2013). Life Event, Stress and Illness.  Malays Journal of Medical Science. 15(4) 9-18

World Health Organization. (2010). Assessment and Management of Conditions Specifically Related to Stress. World Health Organization Website.  Retrieved from www.who.int/mental_health/mhgap