Associations of patient health-related problem solving with disease control, emergency department visits, and hospitalizations in HIV and diabetes clinic samples.

Background: Patient problem solving and decision making are recognized as essential to effective self-management across multiple chronic diseases. However, a health-related problem-solving instrument that demonstrates sensitivity to disease control parameters in multiple diseases has not been established.

Objectives: To determine, in two disease samples, internal consistency and associations with disease control of the Health Problem-Solving Scale (HPSS), a 50-item measure with 7 subscales assessing effective and ineffective problem-solving approaches, learning from past experiences, and motivation/orientation.