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Abstract: Aims: The aim of the study is to explore the illness perceptions of Chinese women with breast cancer and relationships with their socio‐demographic and clinical characteristics. Methods: A descriptive, correlational, and exploratory design was used. The Chinese version of the Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire was modified and used to collect data. Results: Of the 16 common symptoms of breast cancer, the participants recognized only 2.81 symptoms, on average. Of the 6 causal factors, “uncontrollable factors” had the highest mean score, while “behavioural factors” received the lowest score. Most of the participants knew little about the disease, perceived that this illness is cyclic in nature and would not last for a long time, believed that the illness could have serious consequences but could be controlled, and reported having negative emotional responses to this illness. Most of the dimensions of illness perception were significantly correlated with one another. Furthermore, some socio‐demographic and clinical characteristics were confirmed to be predictors of illness perceptions. Conclusions: These findings suggest that illness perceptions should be regarded as a whole to guide the coping process of Chinese women with breast cancer and provide new clinical information to support care for this group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to modify and test the Chinese version of the Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire to measure the illness perception of breast cancer‐related lymphedema among breast cancer survivors. Before the investigation, identity and causal subscales were modified and the wording of the remaining scales was also adjusted. The psychometric properties of this instrument was evaluated using the technique of explore and confirmatory factor analysis. Data from 203 breast cancer survivors was entered into factor analysis. Five causal factors were extracted after removing one item, accounting for 68.02% of the variance in total. An acceptable fit with the data for the proposed seven‐factor model was obtained after eliminating three items and resetting seven error covariances. The Cronbach's α values and composite reliability coefficients were acceptable. This measurement is reliable and valid for measuring illness perceptions of breast cancer‐related lymphedema in Chinese breast cancer survivors. It could be helpful for further studies that examine the effect of illness perceptions on health‐related behaviours, such as lymphedema risk‐reduction behaviours in the Chinese cultural context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]