Coping with pain in rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

This research investigated the role of coping strategies in reducing the pain experience of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients over a seven-day period. Sixty-three patients completed a twice-daily structured dairy consisting of an eight scale revision of the Ways of Coping (WOC), the depression subscale of the Affects Balance Scale (ABS), and a pain visual analogue scale (VAS). Multivariate analyses for repeated measures identified two coping strategies, Self-Care and Positive Reappraisal, as significantly effective in pain reduction. Self-Care includes behavioral attempts to manage the symptoms of RA. Positive Reappraisal involves cognitive efforts to redefine pain experience in positive terms. The other six coping strategies also demonstrated a trend to increased use on days when pain decreased. These data imply that intraindividual approaches in examining the coping/pain association have potential benefit for determining a causal relation between coping and pain.