The main objective of this study is to explore the relationships of physical, behavioral and social science factors with chronic disease self- management among a cohort of 810 persons with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
The specific aims of this study are to: 1) assist with the development of a scale to measure self-management strategies for persons with Ra, 2) explore the relationship of helplessness with performance of self- management strategies, 3) explore the contributions of various self- management strategies to self-reported physical functioning, and 4) explore direct and indirect effects of demographic factors, pain, helplessness, fatigue, functional status and co-morbidity on chronic disease self-management. In addition to the above specific aims, part of the funding from this proposal will be allocated to the development of a self-management intervention program based on behavioral science theory and health psychology for persons with RA. Cross-sectional data will be used from Dr. Leigh Callahan's study on """"""""Self-management. Education and Outcomes in RA."""""""" Thus, this is a secondary data analysis on data that will be collected in another study that has been approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. Descriptive, multi-variate analyses of variance and structural equation modeling analyses will be performed.
