Predictors of functional disability in rheumatoid arthritis: results from a 13-year prospective study.

Purpose: To explore the role of distress and social support as modifiers of functional disability in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We hypothesized that: (a) higher inflammatory activity, more joint tenderness and more pain lead to more disability, and (b) that more distress and less social support lead to more disability and accelerate the disablement process by moderating the effects of inflammatory activity, joint tenderness and pain.

Methods: The study is a Dutch extension of the European Research on Incapacitating Diseases and Social Support (EURIDISS) which started with 292 patients.

Disability, social support, and distress in rheumatoid arthritis: results from a thirteen-year prospective study.

Objective: To examine the strength and stability of the relationships between disease-related factors (joint tenderness, pain, and functional disability), social support, and distress over time, and to investigate to what extent disease-related factors and social support can predict distress in short-term and long-term rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: The study was a Dutch extension of the European Research on Incapacitating Diseases and Social Support and started with 292 patients. After 5 waves of data collection, 129 patients remained.

Contribution of partner support in self-management of rheumatoid arthritis patients. An application of the theory of planned behavior.

The aim of this exploratory study was to test the applicability of a model derived from the Theory of Planned Behavior on self-management. In this model social support from the partner, attitude and self-efficacy are determinants of intention, and intention and self-efficacy are determinants of self-management. We tested the model on rheumatoid arthritis patients who have a partner, using regression analyses and structural equation models.