title: Role overload, pain and physical dysfunction in early rheumatoid or undifferentiated inflammatory arthritis in Canada.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Inflammatory arthritis impairs participation in societal roles. Role overload arises when the demands by a given role set exceed the resources; time and energy, to carry out the required tasks. The present study examines the association between role overload and disease outcomes in early inflammatory arthritis (EIA).
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients (n = 104) of 7.61 months mean duration of inflammatory arthritis completed self-report questionnaires on sociodemographics, disease characteristics and role overload. Pain was assessed using the Short Form McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) and physical functioning was measured with the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36 (SF-36) physical functioning score. Role overload was measured by the Role Overload Scale. Patients indicated the number of social roles they occupied from a total of the three typical roles; marital, parental and paid work.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants' mean age was 56 years and 70.2% were female. Role overload was not correlated to the number of social roles, however, it was positively associated with pain (p = 0.004) and negatively associated with physical functioning (p = 0.001). On multivariate analysis, role overload was negatively associated with physical functioning after controlling for the relevant sociodemographic variables.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study identifies a possible reciprocal relationship between role overload and physical functioning in patients with EIA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. karl.looper@mcgill.ca.
authors.forename: Sally Sabry
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Mustafa
authors.forename: Karl Julian
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Looper
authors.forename: Phyllis
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zelkowitz
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Purden
authors.forename: Murray
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baron