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2026: Online Advance Publication
Psychological adaptation and health-related quality of life in inflammatory bowel disease: a 5-year follow-up study
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All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
Published: 27 August 2026
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Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), encompassing Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), is a chronic immune-mediated gastrointestinal condition in which long-term care increasingly involves patient-reported health, emotional functioning, and psychological adaptation. Because psychological adaptation may not parallel clinical remission, this 5-year longitudinal study examined changes in psychopathological symptoms, alexithymia, coping strategies, and health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) in 73 outpatients receiving maintenance medical treatment. We expected no uniform mean-level improvement or deterioration and hypothesised that increases in depressive and anxiety symptoms, alexithymia, and avoidance coping would be associated with poorer HR-QoL outcomes and that increases in positive attitude coping would be associated with better outcomes. Participants were reassessed during clinical remission using validated measures, and psychological changes were analysed in relation to follow-up quality of life outcomes, adjusting for baseline levels and disease duration. Mean-level changes were limited across depressive symptoms, overall anxiety, alexithymia, most coping dimensions, and HR-QoL indices. Somatic anxiety increased over time (p=.03), whereas social support coping decreased consistently in the overall sample and within both diagnostic subgroups (p<.01). Increases in depressive symptoms were associated with poorer mental health and lower disease-specific HR-QoL (both p<.001), while increases in alexithymia were associated only with poorer disease-specific HR-QoL (p<.05). In the multivariate model, depressive change independently predicted follow-up physical health (p=.02), mental health (p<.001), and disease-specific HR-QoL (p<.001). These findings suggest that psychological vulnerability may remain clinically relevant even during remission and identify depressive symptoms as a key correlate of long-term patient-reported functioning. The results support the integration of psychological assessment and multidisciplinary care within routine gastroenterological follow-up and highlight the potential value of psychologically informed interventions aimed at preserving HR-QoL and long-term adaptation.
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How to Cite
Psychological adaptation and health-related quality of life in inflammatory bowel disease: a 5-year follow-up study. (2026). Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome. https://doi.org/10.4081/ripppo.2026.900
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