title: Social support and invalidation by others contribute uniquely to the understanding of physical and mental health of patients with rheumatic diseases.
abstract: This study examined whether social support and invalidation (lack of understanding and discounting by others) are differently associated with physical and mental health. Participants were 1455 patients with fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, osteorarthritis, or another rheumatic disease. Participants completed online questionnaires. Social support correlated negatively with discounting responses of others (moderately) and lack of understanding (strongly). Both invalidation and social support were additively associated with patients' mental health, but only discounting was significantly associated with patients' physical health. This suggests that improving health of patients with rheumatic diseases requires the consideration of both social support and invalidation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands. m.b.kool@uu.nl
authors.forename: Marianne B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Kool
authors.forename: Henriët
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: van Middendorp
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Lumley
authors.forename: Johannes W J
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Bijlsma
authors.forename: Rinie
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Geenen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001530:Belgium; D003717:Denial, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012216:Rheumatic Diseases / Q000523:psychology*; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires