**5. Conclusions**

Women with PCOS have moderate levels of generalized self-efficacy, dispositional optimism, and illness acceptance. The patients' generalized self-efficacy is determined by their residence, education, socio-economic standing, BMI, and time from diagnosis, while socio-economic standing was the only determinant of dispositional optimism. Determinants of illness acceptance in women with PCOS included their residence, socio-economic standing, and time from diagnosis. Increased generalized self-efficacy and dispositional optimism contributed to greater illness acceptance in PCOS patients.

The present study, compared with others on the subject, will enable specialists providing care to women with PCOS to gain a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the situation and condition of their patients. It will also allow for a better response to the needs of PCOS patients, and provide them with individualized, holistic specialist care, diagnostics, and treatment.

**Author Contributions:** E.R. designed the study, collected data, analyzed the statistics, interpreted the data, searched the literature, wrote the paper, and performed the manuscript review; G.I.-P. designed the study, interpreted the data, and carried out a critical review of the manuscript; A.B. analyzed the statistics, overviewed and analyzed the literature, and wrote the paper; A.W. and R.S. collected and analyzed the research material; G.C.: interpreted the data, and searched the literature. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Acknowledgments:** We would like to express our deepest gratitude to the heads of health care services (primary care, specialist outpatient care, and inpatient/hospital care) that hosted the study, and to all the women who agreed to participate.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest. Authors declare to have no financial or personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) the results presented in this manuscript.
