Abstract

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease that often results in inflammation, pain, fatigue, functional impairment, and psychosocial difficulties. The current study examines the effectiveness, feasibility, and sustainability of an interdisciplinary chronic pain intervention for patients with RA. Wearable fitness trackers were incorporated into the intervention and objectively measured participant physical activity. A total of 44 participants received the intervention and completed outcome measures. Results supported improvements across multiple domains at the end of treatment and at 4-week follow-up compared to treatment baseline. Mixed multilevel repeated measures modeling revealed significant overall improvements in many primary (i.e., self-efficacy for managing chronic disease, pain intensity, pain interference, depression, and health-related quality of life), secondary (i.e., physical functioning, overall quality of life, and chronic pain acceptance), and in an objective measure of physical activity (i.e., average steps per day). Effect sizes were generally small to medium and were similar to or better than those reported in meta-analyses. Patients with comorbid fibromyalgia syndrome recorded significantly worse scores across measures, but showed steady improvement throughout the intervention. Mixed-method analysis suggested that patients were interested in and satisfied with the intervention. Implications for optimization and long-term sustainability are discussed.

Notes

If this is your thesis or dissertation, and want to learn how to access it or for more information about readership statistics, contact us at STARS@ucf.edu

Graduation Date

2016

Semester

Fall

Advisor

Cassisi, Jeffrey

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Sciences

Department

Psychology

Degree Program

Psychology; Clinical Psychology

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0006451

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0006451

Language

English

Release Date

December 2019

Length of Campus-only Access

3 years

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access)

Download

Share

COinS