Dispositional optimism and acceptance of illness among a group of individuals with Graves-Basedow’s disease

Abstract

Introduction: Dispositional optimism is a general tendency to positively perceive the world and one’s own future. We can consider what kind of connection with ability to cope with difficulties. One situation which is very stressful for an individual is an illness, particularly a chronic one. The aim of the paper was to define the connection between dispositional optimism and acceptance of illness among the group with Graves-Basedow disease. This is autoimmunizational illness and diseases of this kind are particularly sensitive to the influence of psychological factors, as there are many connections between the immune system and the human psyche.
Material and methods: The study group consisted of 59 individuals with Graves-Basedow disease, 50 women and 9 men and 55 of healthy ones, 49 women and 6 men according to age, sex and a level of education. The patients filled out three psychological questionnaires: The Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R), The Acceptance of Illness Scale (AIS) and The Personal Questionnaire.
Results: of the study in question indicate a lack of differences between individuals with Graves-Basedow disease and healthy ones concerning the level of dispositional optimism. There no differences in the level of dispositional optimism as regards of criterions of health: by the levels of hormones TSH, fT3 and fT4, complications and a time of duration of disease. Instead, if they suffer additionally from others diseases, they have a lower level of dispositional optimism. There exist a connection between intensification of level of dispositional optimism and acceptance of illness among testing group.
Conclusions: The dispositional optimism as a supply of individual helps her or his in adaptation to difficulty situation, which is a chronic disease. It is a reason way it is worth to help of patients to grow it stronger. Pol J Endocrinol 2008; 59 (1): 23-28