Psychological Adjustment to Illness Scale (PAIS): A study of chronic hemodialysis patients

Abstract

One hundred and two patients on chronic hemodialysis were studied by the self-report version of the Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale (PAIS). High agreement was found between patients' total scores (global adjustment) and physicians' assessment of the patients' adjustment. High agreement was also found between patients' reports on specific aspects of adjustment, e.g. vocational rehabilitation, psychological distress and social environment, and the physicians' assessments of the same aspects of adjustment. It is suggested that the PAIS is adequate for measuring some aspects of adjustment/maladjustment and therefore large scale studies can be undertaken, aiming at filling gaps in knowledge, clarifying contradictory information, comparing adjustment in different modalities of treatment, as well as measuring the effectiveness of different psychotherapeutic interventions.