This book provides an integrative approach for the management and care of the arthritis patient. Many different psychological, social, and behavioral factors have been shown to affect the quality of life of arthritis patients beyond the effects of the disease and the response to medications and treatments. The book establishes a biopsychosocial framework for understanding the interplay between psychological and physical aspects of rheumatic disease and summarizes the research about the psychosocial aspects that affect patients with arthritis, including stress, social support, doctor-patient communication, and sleep patterns. It explores the practice of incorporating psychological and behavioral approaches in the rheumatology clinic in order to surmount the problems of access and enhance the quality of care, promotes a comprehensive perspective on the numerous issues affecting persons with arthritis, and provides clinical guidelines for management. Psychosocial Factors in Arthritis is a valuable resource for behavioral medicine researchers, behavioral clinicians, and a range of arthritis professionals, including rheumatologists, nurses, and other allied health service practitioners.

The main research described in this book is concerned with assessing the interrelationship of psychological adjustment, compliance with medical advice and use of unorthodox treatments in a sample of rheumatoid arthritic out-patients. Basically this research is comprised of four components: two pilot studies; the development and postal administration of an illness knowledge assessment questionnaire; and a 'follow-up' correlational study. pilot study 1, which involved interviews with 18 patients, was a 'question seeking' study - the aim being to develop research questions of relevance to the Subject sample. The findings of this study suggested that poor illness knowledge and consequent misconceptions was contributing to psychological distress and affecting health behaviour among patients. In pilot study 2 a sample of 17 patients were questioned in detail - but using open-ended questions - about their understanding of their condition and treatment. The results of this study supported the impression gained in pilot study 1, that patients were typically ill-informed about their illness and tended, in the absence of correct information, to overestimate "the risks associated with rheumatoid arthritis and underestimate the value of treatments.

Examines the nature of Rheumatoid Arthritis & the role of health care professionals in influencing an individual's behavior and understanding of RA. Invaluable for sufferers, carers and health professionals involved in treatment.

Recent years have witnessed considerable growth in the field of psychoneuroimmunology, which describes how psychological factors, such as stress and depression, impact the neurological and immune systems. Kathleen Kendall-Tackett and an elite group of researchers explore the ways physical and psychological stressors such as poor sleep, PTSD, and depression, trigger the inflammatory response and increase the risk of disease. They approach this material from a variety of perspectives. Chapters in Part I describe the biological processes involved in inflammation, focusing on both the typical bodily response to threat as well as on the long-term deleterious effects of stress upon the immune system; while chapters in Part II examine the role of psychosocial stress in disease etiology. Throughout, chapter authors present evidence of connections between mind and body, and emphasize the need for improved communication between physicians and mental health care providers.

ABSTRACT Chronic pain is a major health concern in India as well as globally due to increase in prevalence rate of chronic pain in recent years with alarming rate. The aetiology of chronic pain involves biological, psychological, social factors which leads to serious implications in various spheres of life of an individual suffering with chronic pain. Despite of multidimensional nature of chronic pain, the contribution of psychological and social factors in pain management is overlooked and is rarely explored by conducting the empirical research studies. Rheumatoid arthritis is one of the serious causes of chronic pain in the world with higher prevalence rate mainly among women. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease with unknown causes which is characterized by joint stiffness, severe joint pain. There is no permanent cure for RA at present and is currently managed by mainly using pharmacological treatment. RA has significant impact on an individual's capacity to perform basic daily living activities, professional duties and family responsibilities which ultimately affects mental health of an individual. Depression and anxiety are major mental health concerns among RA patients which are found to be linked with several psychological aspects of an individual. Therefore, considering the role of psychological factors in maintaining wellbeing of an individual with RA, the present research aims to study the effect of pain acceptance and active coping on health-related quality of life and functional status among women with RA. Present study was conducted on the sample of 175 women patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis seeking treatment from two private Rheumatology clinics in Pune. The data for the present study was collected by using purposive sampling method. Mixed method research design was implemented in the present study, wherein first quantitative data was obtained by administering the standardized tools and the qualitative data was collected through in-depth interviews and the participants' responses on open-ended question mentioned in personal information form. The tools for obtaining quantitative data included Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire (CPAQ), Vanderbilt Pain Management Inventory (VPMI), Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) and WHO Quality of life-BREF. Obtained quantitative data was statistically analysed with the help of SPSS Ver.22 by conducting Pearson Product Moment Correlation analysis, ChiSquare test of association and simple linear regression analysis to investigate the relationship between pain acceptance and active coping with health-related quality of

This is a book for health care professionals and those suffering autoimmune disease and stress-related illness.