The contribution of negative and positive illness schemas to depression in patients with end-stage renal disease

This research examined the role of negative and positive illness schemas as predictors of depression in 109 ESRD patients who were recruited from dialysis clinics throughout the San Diego area. Specifically, the model evaluated whether negative and positive illness schemas would mediate the relationship between disease severity and depression, and social support and depression, in a cross-sectional design. The model was tested with the Cognitive Depression Inventory (CDI), derived from the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and the full Beck as criterion variables. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis employing path-analytic procedures revealed that while disease severity was unrelated to depression, negative illness schema contributed to higher BDI and CDI scores, and positive illness schema contributed to lower BDI and CDI scores. Furthermore, positive illness schema mediated the relationship between social support and depression in both the BDI and CDI models. The results illustrate the important contribution of illness schemas to depression in this life-threatening disease.