Citation

Melanson PM, Downe-Wamboldt B. Activ. Adapt. Aging 1995; 19(4): 33-47.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1995, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1300/J016v19n04_03

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Health care professionals need to understand the lived experience of the older individual with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) so that they can suggest interventions to enhance the person's capacity to cope effectively under the adversity of RA in daily living. The purpose of this descriptive study was to identify and describe the illness-related stresses as perceived by elderly persons with RA; to identify the stress emotions they experienced and the coping strategies they used to manage the perceived stresses. The investigation was based on the Lazarus and Folkman phenomenological theory of psychological stress and coping. In audiotaped home interviews, 77 participants responded to four open-ended questions. Content analysis of the data indicated that the majority of the participants reported physical limitations as an illness-related stress. In response to their illness-related stress, the participants most frequently expressed the emotion of harm followed by challenge. The majority of the participants used confrontive coping strategies to manage the stress associated with RA. Further longitudinal studies of the stress and coping process among elderly persons with RA are suggested.