Predictors of Physical, Psychological and Social Adjustment in Women with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Abstract

Abstract This study examined the extent to which illness perceptions, coping and disease indicators predict physical, social and psychological adjustment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Baseline data were collected on 75 women attending an out-patient clinic in the West of Ireland. Disease status was assessed by physician ratings of joint involvement, and laboratory indices of erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein. The Illness Perception Questionnaire, the COPE, the Coping Efficacy Scale and the Arthritis Impact Measurement Scale were administered during a semi-structured interview. In stepwise regression analyses (p < .01) illness perceptions accounted for 17% to 28% of the variance on measures of physical function, pain, depression and anxiety. All relationships were in the expected direction. Disease status explained variance on the illness-related aspects of physical function (21%) and coping predicted social activity (16%). Interventions based on understanding and modifying ill...