Coping Strategies amongst the Patients of Arthritis

Arthritis is a chronic disease which has a very high incidence in India. The prevalence of RA in India is quite similar to that reported from the developed countries. It is higher than that reported from China, Indonesia, Philippines and rural Africa (Malaviva, Kapoor, Singh, Kumar & Pande, 1993). The chronic disease involves a variety of acute pain that has been shown to cripple everyday activities. The consequent perceived loss of control affects the routine psychological and social adjustment. The pain and daily hassles lead to a variety of emotional reactions e.g. anxiety and depression etc. Therefore, it is all the more important to learn about how to cope with this disease. Keeping this in mind it was planned to study the coping strategies amongst the patients of arthritis and compare these with control group. A convenient sample of 120 subjects, 60 suffering from arthritis and 60 healthy controls (30 males and 30 females in each category) in the age range of 35-50 years (mean age 42.04 years) was selected from rural/urban areas of Haryana. A two group design was employed with n=60. Coping Response Inventory (Adult Form) by Moos (1993) was administered. The analysis was done by employing t-test. The results indicated that the patients of arthritis were significantly high on avoidance coping. Two types of avoidance coping i.e., cognitive avoidance and acceptance or resignation were being more significantly used by the arthritis patients in their daily living conditions. However, they did not differ in the total approach coping strategies from the control group, although there was a significant difference in logical analysis. No significant difference was observed in other three types of approach coping i.e., positive reappraisal, seeking guidance and support and problem solving between the two groups. The findings have been discussed in terms of implications in preparing the psycho-educative programs for arthritis patients of arthritis.