New Study on Rumination in Illness

This study looks at how the way that we tend to think a lot about certain things might influence our thoughts and behaviours that relate to acute illness, represented by cancer, and chronic illness, represented by diabetes . Increasing our understanding of how people think in response to illness may help identify individuals who may experience difficulties in adjusting to illness and also guide us in developing ways to help you overcome these difficulties.

Study now open to international participants. Please consider taking part. Click on the link below.

For more information on the study or the Multi-Dimensional Rumination in Illness Scale used in this study, please visit Thinking Style in Illness

Research study, participants needed

Rumination and Informational Preferences in Psychological and Behavioural Outcomes in Illness: Reliability and validity testing of the Multidimensional Rumination in Illness Scale (MRIS)

This project is part of a research program that examines the role of ruminative thinking in psychological and behavioural outcomes in illness. In looking at the way in which thinking style influences a person’s emotional and behavioural response to illness, it is hoped to provide a way of identifying individuals who may experience difficulties in adjusting to illness and also guide the development of appropriate interventions.

This stage of the project involves validation and reliability testing of the newly-developed Multidimensional Rumination in Illness Scale (MRIS).

For this project, I am seeking English-speaking people who are over 18. Participation involves the completion of an on-line questionnaire, which will take approximately 30 minutes.

This study has been approved by the Macquarie University Ethics Review Committee (Human Subjects).

If this project is of interest to you, please go to the following website to start the questionnaire:

Thinking Style in Illness

Rumination in affective outcomes in chronic illness

Soo, H., Burney, S., & Basten, C,. (2009). The role of rumination in affective distress in people with a chronic physical illness: A review of the literature and theoretical formulation. Journal of Health Psychology, 14, 956 - 966.

Abstract

The role of maladaptive cognitive content among individuals with chronic physical illness has been acknowledged in cognitive models. Rumination has been documented as a key predictor of depression, and to a lesser extent of anxiety, in non-clinical samples. This paper provides a preliminary discussion of the potential role of rumination as a causal and maintaining factor for emotional distress in the setting of chronic physical illness. Although a number of methodological limitations exist, the current research on rumination may provide a useful framework for the extension of existing cognitive models in chronic illness.