Abstract
Illness perception influences health and illness behaviors. This study was designed to estimate illness perception differences between Russian-speaking and Hebrew-speaking Israeli oncology patients. Changes in illness perception associated with time spent in Israel among Russian-speaking patients were also evaluated. Additionally, we evaluated differences in illness perception of patients exposed to Chernobyl’s consequences. A total of 144 oncology patients (77 Hebrew-speaking, 67 Russian-speaking) completed personal data questionnaires and The illness perception questionnaire revised, translated into Russian for this study. Significantly more Russian-speaking oncology patients perceived their illness as chronic and having negative consequences on life (p < .01). Russian-speaking oncology patients tend to have a more negative perception of cancer compared to Hebrew-speaking patients. Time spent in Israel may create more positive perceptions of cancer among these patients. No illness perception differences were found concerning Chernobyl consequences.
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Ethical Standards
All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.
Conflict of interest
Authors Nadia Popov, Irit Heruti, Sigal Levy, Doron Lulav-Grinwald, and Gil Bar-Sela declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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Popov, N., Heruti, I., Levy, S. et al. Illness Perception Differences Between Russian- and Hebrew-Speaking Israeli Oncology Patients. J Clin Psychol Med Settings 21, 33–40 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10880-013-9384-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10880-013-9384-x