title: Coping with Stress and Body Image in Patients with Ankylosing Spondylitis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of this study was to determine coping with stress and body image in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and to investigate the correlation between these two characteristics together and also between them and disease activity/functional capacity.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fourty healthy controls and 40 patients with AS who were diagnosed on the basis of Modified New York Criteria were included in the study. The exclusion criteria were another medical disease or comorbid psychiatric disorder. All participants were administered the Coping Orientations to Problems Experienced (COPE) questionnaire in order to evaluate attitudes to coping with stress and the Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire (MBSRQ) to evaluate body image. The Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) and Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index (BASFI) were used to evaluate AS patients' disease activities and functional capacities.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was no difference between the two groups in terms of COPE scores. The MBSRQ 'health evaluation' subscale scores were lower and the 'fitness orientation' scores higher in the AS group. The COPE active coping subscale had a weak, positive correlation with MBSRQ total score and a weak, negative correlation with BASFI score. MBRSQ total score had a moderate, negative correlation with BASFI score, and a weak, negative correlation with BASDAI score.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The attitudes to coping with stress in AS patients with no accompanying medical disease or psychiatric disorder may not differ from that in healthy controls. Negative health evaluation and fitness orientation must be characteristics considered in psychotherapeutic interventions applied to these patients. In addition, psychotherapeutic interventions directed toward coping with stress and body image may be especially useful in active stages of the disease and in patients with limited functional capacity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Ondokuz Mayıs University Faculty of Medicine, Samsun, Turkey.
authors.forename: Gökhan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sarisoy
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, Ondokuz Mayıs University Faculty of Medicine, Samsun, Turkey.
authors.forename: Dilek
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Durmuş
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Ondokuz Mayıs University Faculty of Medicine, Samsun, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ömer
authors.initials: Ö
authors.lastname: Böke
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, Ondokuz Mayıs University Faculty of Medicine, Samsun, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ferhan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cantürk
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Ondokuz Mayıs University Faculty of Medicine, Samsun, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ahmet Rıfat
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Şahin
keywords: Ankylosing spondylitis; body image; coping with stress; disease activity; functional capacity