title: The impact of disability and disease duration on social support of women with rheumatoid arthritis.
abstract: The objective was to investigate the impact of physical disability and disease duration on the amount of social support received by female patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Two hundred sixty-four patients were assessed in a cross-sectional study. Disease duration had a negative relationship to daily emotional support; the length of disease duration was related to less emotional support. A combination of long disease duration and high disability was related to a low degree of problem-oriented emotional support. High physical disability was associated with less social companionship. Patients with high disability and few friends and patients with high disability and few neighbours reported less social companionship than patients with high disability and four or more friends or three or more neighbours. The combination high disability and few friends were associated with less problem-oriented instrumental support. Number of friends, age, and personality type all contributed to the variance in social support.
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioural Sciences in Medicine, University of Oslo, Department of Research, Diaconia College Centre, Oslo, Norway. livef@basalmed.uio.no
authors.forename: Live
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fyrand
authors.forename: Torbjørn
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Moum
authors.forename: Arnstein
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Finset
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Glennås
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008875:Middle Aged; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors