Some aspects of the impact of chronic ill health on patients with inflammatory bowel disease

Patients with inflammatory bowel disease have an impaired quality of life.;It should be possible to develop a measurement of patients' quality of life, specific to inflammatory bowel disease.;The aims of this thesis are:;1. To identify areas of patient need and to compare their views with physicians perceptions of care delivered.;2. To investigate specific areas of need and their frequency amongst a defined population. This will include assessments of :;i) Sexual dysfunction amongst patients with inflammatory bowel disease.;ii) Fertility amongst married patients with inflammatory bowel disease.;iii) The attitudes of employers and insurance companies to patients with inflammatory bowel disease.;iv) The incidence of colorectal cancer in patient with long standing ulcerative colitis.;3. Integral to the study will be the development of a valid, reliable and concise assessment tools to measure the quality of life in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. This will be compared with validated tests such as the Sickness Impact Profile and will be assessed in patients with varying degrees of disease activity.