Aim: This study was conducted to investigate the illness perception and related factors in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Method: The study was conducted in a descriptive manner and was conducted between November 2015 and February 2016 in patients admitted to the outpatient clinic of a university hospital in Konya. The research sample size was 175 patients. ”Survey Form” and “Illness Perception Questionnaire” were used to collect data. Kruskal Wallis H test, Mann Whitney U test, independent samples t test and one-way variance analysis were used in statistical analysis. Results: The mean age of the participants was 67.3 ± 10.8, 83.4% were male, 89.7% were married, and 58.3% were primary school graduates. The mean scores of the patients' illness perception questionnaire subdimensions; When the distribution according to sociodemographic, health and disease characteristics were examined, it was found that age, working status, duration of disease, perceived health status, getting information about the disease, and proper nutrition and COPD stage were found. It was determined that the patients had difficulty in breathing difficulty from the beginning of the disease and they were frequently connected to their diseases. Conclusion: As a result of this study, it was determined that patients could not understand their disease and their personal controls on the disease were low. The majority of the patients were found to have short-term disease, were permanent, and had a history of life with this disease and could be affected by many factors. It can be suggested that nurses plan and implement nursing care to increase the positive perception of patients by taking into account the sociodemographic, health and disease characteristics of COPD patients.