The effectiveness of treatment based on the model of emotional regulation strategies on pain anxiety in patients with arthritic rheumatoid disease

 Aims and background: Arthritis is a chronic and debilitating inflammatory disease, the main symptoms of which are arthritis, including morning dryness, swelling of the affected joints, and eventually joint deformity, and are associated with some psychological variables. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of emotion regulation strategies-based therapy on pain anxiety in patients with arthritic thyroid disease. Materials and Methods: The present study was a quasi-experimental research with pre-test and post-test with control group and follow-up period. The statistical population of the study consisted of all patients with arthritic rheumatoid arthritis who referred to Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran and private rheumatology clinics in Tehran within 95-96. The population was 1800. Sample size consisted of 40 patients with arthritic thyroid disease who were selected by purposive sampling method and were randomly divided into experimental (n = 20) and control (n = 20) groups. Research instruments included pain anxiety scale that participants completed in pre-test, post-test and follow-up. Descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis of covariance were used to analyze the data. Results: The results showed that model-based treatment of emotional adjustment strategies was effective in reducing pain anxiety in patients. Conclusion: Applying psychological therapies could help to reduce the pain anxiety of patients with arthritis.