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ASU RESEARCHERS FIND LINKS BETWEEN RELATIONSHIPS, PROBLEM SOLVING, AND ARTHRITIS | |
| Contact: Alexander Nagurney Phone: 480-775-94599 Email: alenguy@msn.com Embargoed until: March 6, 2004 |
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Orlando, FL- It seems that the combination of actively confronting daily stressors and having a partner who can avoid being critical is one key to remaining relatively healthy for chronic pain patients. This finding was presented at the American Psychosomatic Society Annual Meeting on March 6 in Orlando, FL. Researchers at Arizona State University's Arthritis Research Laboratory, Alex Zautra and John Reich, and doctoral students Alexander Nagurney and Rob Fasman, have recently completed a study involving women diagnosed with the chronic pain conditions of rheumatoid (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA). They are investigating the adjustment process in women with arthritis, as well as assessing the role of their partners' response to the patients' illness. The women were tracked for up to fifteen weeks in an effort to identify what the researchers have come to know as a "flare" week, or a week when arthritis-related issues become especially problematic. When such a week was identified, the researchers assessed coping activities and the responses of their partners toward the participants. For both RA and OA women, failing to actively confront stressors in their everyday lives in combination with having a critical partner resulted in the most severe arthritis flare-ups. The difference between RA and OA women was most prominent when they reported attempting to actively confront the problems caused by their pain. In this case, OA women reported less severe arthritis-related problems than RA women, regardless of how critical their spouses were. The researchers suggest that these results have two implications. First, facing pain-related problems head on and having a partner refrain from being critical during times of pain flare-ups are both important elements to remaining physically well-off among both RA and OA women. Second, attempting to solve problems head on seems to offer some protection against the negative effects of having a critical partner, but only for OA women. Facing their problems head on does not appear to offer any protection against the effects of having a critical spouse for RA women. The ASU arthritis research team is currently attempting to identify other issues that have implications for living with chronic pain including the stress of daily events and testing new techniques for enhancing coping abilities. | |
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Psychosomatic Medicine is the official peer-reviewed journal of the American Psychosomatic Society, published bimonthly. For information about the journal, contact Vicki White, Managing Editor for Manuscript Production,
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