Dimensional complexity of older patients' illness representations of arthritis and diabetes

We investigated the complexity of illness representations among older adults (N = 156) with osteoarthritis and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, two of the most prevalent chronic diseases. A card-sorting task indicated that participants with osteoarthritis (n = 80) had more complex representations for arthritis than for diabetes, whereas participants with non-insulin-dependent diabetes (n = 76) had more complex representations for diabetes than for arthritis. The findings suggested that personal experience of a chronic disease may be likened to expertise. The card-sorting task is recommended as a means of investigating implicit as well as explicit aspects of the illness representations of older adults.