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Aim: To analyse the predictive value of illness representations on treatment adherence and coping strategies in a group of patients on haemodialysis., Background: Understanding the cognitive and emotional factors that influence adherence behaviour and coping strategies and determining their relationship to sociodemographic factors remain a challenge; meeting this challenge would encourage comprehensive patient care, thereby improving their quality of life, Design: Cross-sectional study with predictive means in a sample of 135 patients on haemodialysis., Methods: Data collection occurred from September 2010-January 2012 and tools included the following: sociodemographic data, Illness Perception Questionnaire-Revised, the Cuestionario de Afrontamiento del Estrés and the Morisky-Green test to study adherence to treatment., Results: Being a woman, having a greater knowledge of the disease and having a poorer sense of personal control affected adherence to treatment on controlling for each factor. 'Identity', 'personal control' and 'adherence' were associated with a proactive coping strategy, whereas 'evolution' and 'gender' were related independently to avoidance coping strategies; those who believed that their illness had a chronic course were more likely to cope by avoiding the problem and this tendency was stronger among women., Conclusions: This study provides evidence supporting the role of gender, knowledge about the disease and sense of personal control in adherence to therapeutic regimens of patients in chronic haemodialysis. The identification and characterization of patients' perception of chronic illness may represent a useful framework to influence disease outcomes such as adherence., (© 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)