Vg. Sinclair et al., EFFECTS OF A COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTION FOR WOMEN WITH RHEUMATOID-ARTHRITIS, Research in nursing & health, 21(4), 1998, pp. 315-326
The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to evaluate the effec
tiveness of a cognitive-behavioral nursing intervention for women with
rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Ninety adult women with RA participated in
1 of 14 nurse-led groups over an 18-month period. Personal coping res
ources, pain-coping behaviors, psychological well-being, and disease s
ymptomatology were measured at four time periods. There were significa
nt changes on all of the measures of personal coping resources (p <.00
1) and psychological well-being (p <.05), half of the pain-coping beha
viors (p <.05), and one indicator of disease symptomatology (fatigue,
p <.05) from pre- to postintervention. Furthermore, the positive chang
es brought about by the program were maintained over the 3-month follo
w-up period. The intervention may be adapted to benefit individuals wi
th a variety of stressful medical conditions. (C) 1998 John Wiley & So
ns, Inc.