Psychological Adjustment to Chronic Illness: The Role of Prototype Evaluation in Acceptance of Illness

Abstract

Acceptance of chronic illness refers to psychological adjustment to the chronic illness. We propose that patients' prototype evaluations provide patients with information to evaluate themselves and to accept their illness. In cross‐sectional Study 1 ( n = 149), diabetic patients' prototype evaluations predicted self‐evaluations and acceptance, explaining about 10% and 20%, respectively. Study 2 was a field experiment ( n = 255) among diabetic patients designed to test whether prototype evaluations are causally related to acceptance, and whether this relation is moderated by individual differences. The results showed that the effects of positive prototype information on acceptance depended on the individual's prototype evaluation at pretest and on the individual's social comparison orientation. These results support the idea that prototype perceptions play a role in the psychological adjustment to a chronic illness.