Cognitive-Emotional Adaptation to Chronic Illness: A Psychological Model for Resilience and Mental Health Interventions

Background: Living with chronic illness negatively impacts the psychological well-being of patients, which can result in emotional distress and reduced quality of life. Although resilience has become crowded to be a vital protective factor, to our knowledge, a psychological model that includes both cognitive and emotional mechanisms in the face of chronic conditions has not yet been established. Objective: Based on the transactional model of stress and coping, this research was designed to construct and validate a psychological model on cognitive-emotional adaptation to chronic illness, which emphasized the mediating role of resilience in enhancing mental health status. Method: Mixed method study including quantitative data from 326 adult patients with a variety of chronic conditions and qualitative interviews with 20 participants. Illness cognition, emotion regulation strategies, resilience, anxiety, depression and quality of life were measured using validated scales. SEM for model testing and thematic analysis for qualitative data. Results: Acceptance and cognitive coherence were found to be positively associated with resilience, and emotional suppression and helplessness were positively related to depression and anxiety (p <. 01). SEM revealed that resilience completely mediated the influence of cognitive-emotional variables on distress and quality of life with good fit to the model (CFI =. 961, RMSEA =. 038). Qualitative themes corroborated the model, highlighting adaptive coping, emotional processing, and identity reconstruction as essential for psychological adjustment. Conclusions: The results support a biopsychosocial model of the psychological factors associated with resilience and mental health in individuals with chronic illness. These results have clinical implications for interventions aimed at enhancing adaptive cognition and emotional regulation.