Risk factors affect diabetes perceptions.

• Position: Self Prognosis - Brief article

"We found that there are differences in the perceptions of those who are at risk for diabetes that depend on the specific characteristics that place them at risk," says Shiela Strauss, associate professor of nursing and co-director of the Statistics and Data Management Core for New York University's Colleges of Nursing and Dentistry.

Illness perceptions--the organized cognitive representations and beliefs that people hold about a condition--are recognized as important determinants of self-care behaviors and outcomes in patients. The way that people mentally represent their conditions has a concrete effect on the way that they manage these conditions and therefore on their prognoses.

Among the findings, researchers note that, compared to those who had a first-degree relative with diabetes, those who do not are less concerned that they might have diabetes, report a poorer understanding of the disease, and are less...