Understanding the Relationship between Illness Perceptions and Health Behaviour among Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.

This paper aims to delineate the cognitive, emotional, and behavioural responses of women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) to their illness by applying the Common-Sense Model of Self-Regulation (CSM) to their health behaviour. An online cross-sectional design was used to examine the relationship between participants' illness perceptions (illness identity, consequence, timeline, control, and cause) and emotional representations of their PCOS, and their health behaviours (diet, physical activity, and risky contraceptive behaviour). The participants were 252 women between the ages of 18 and 45 years, living in Australia, and self-reporting a diagnosis of PCOS, recruited through social media.