The causal item of illness perception from Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (BIPQ) has no clearly defined response categories. It restricts the comparison of findings across studies on illness perception. Therefore, this study analyzed the causal item responses and proposed a categorization structure. The cohort study measurements were conducted at early cardiac rehabilitation and six months later. Illness perception was assessed using BIPQ scale with qualitative responses of causal item being independently coded by two researchers who assigned the responses to categories using template analysis approach. The study identified seven main causal categories of illness perception: lifestyle, psychological causes, natural causes, working conditions, body changes, environmental factors, and other causes. The perception that acute coronary syndrome is mainly due to lifestyle factors associates with better health-related outcomes compared to other causal perceptions. The proposed categorization of BIPQ causal item could be tested in the future research among different samples accounting only the main cause.
Keywords: Acute coronary syndrome; BIPQ; health outcomes; illness causes; illness perception.
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