Coping with arthritis is experienced as a dynamic balancing process. A qualitative study

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the process of coping in people living with chronic inflammatory arthritis. Semi-structured individual face-to-face interviews with 26 persons having rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis or unspecified polyarthritis were performed. The informants were asked how they experienced to live with arthritis and how they coped with challenges due to the arthritis. The main finding was that the informants experienced the process of coping with arthritis as a dynamic, iterative, balancing process. They balanced between different states, entitled "go on as usual", "listen to the body", "adjustments" and "attitude towards life". The informants preferred to be in a "go on as usual" state as this was seen as normal life. However, disease fluctuations with pain, fatigue and stiffness disturbed the balance and made the informants "listen to the body", a state where they became aware of how the disease affected them, followed by the "adjustment" state. Adjustments were composed of different efforts to ease the arthritis influence and for regaining balance. The "attitude towards life" influenced the overall process of coping. A redefined view of what the informants considered to be normal life thus happened through longer periods of imbalance. The process of coping with arthritis was found to be a dynamic, iterative, balancing process where patients redefined what they considered as normal life through the course of the disease.

Facteurs psychologiques et intensité de la fatigue perçue auprès de patients souffrant d’une polyarthrite rhumatoïde : une recherche préliminaire

“…Toutefois, la caracté -ristique chronique de la PR pourrait accentuer l'expression de la dimension anxieuse de la personnalité et placer l'individu dans une forme d'insé curité personnelle qui majorerait l'anxié té et l'intensité de la fatigue [9,10]. Le fait que le patient doit composer avec une condition physique né anmoins ré duite impliquerait un ajustement qui ne pourrait être que dynamique [16]. Prendre en compte les consé quences corporelles de la PR et composer avec les effets de la maladie é prouverait les straté gies de coping mises en oeuvre.…”

Life according to ME: Caught in the ebb-tide

“…People with chronic inflammatory arthritis, for instance, have described how they experience the process of coping with their chronic condition as a dynamic, iterative, balancing process (Grønning et al, 2011). Similarly, Jarrett (2000) has described the length that people experiencing chronic illness are willing to go to in order to find the balance between living a life and living an illness (Jarrett, 2000).…”

Patients’Perceptions of Having a Good Life One Year after Arthritis Patient Education: A Qualitative Study Nested within a Randomized Controlled Trial

“…The interview results at baseline (Grønning et al, 2011) and eight months earlier were read before each informant was interviewed, to state what the informants had said about how they experienced to live with arthritis at different time points. The rationale behind this was to help the informants concentrate their experiences to what had happened in their lives between the time points, how they managed their arthritis now, and if the nurse-led PE intervention had influenced their experiences in anyways.…”

“…The informants had a chronic inflammatory joint disease (RA, PsA or unspecified polyarthritis (UA)), were between 18 to 80 years old, and were able to participate in the nurse-led PE intervention. The informants had been interviewed previously; before they attended the nurse-led PE intervention (Grønning, Lomundal, Koksvik, & Steinsbekk, 2011) and 8-10 weeks after the intervention was finished .…”