Abstract
The aim of this study was to survey rheumatoid arthritis patients’ conceptions of their management of everyday life. Interviews with nine female, functionally independent patients with rheumatoid arthritis (median age 46 years, median duration of symptoms 6 years) were analysed using a phenomenographic methodology. Uncertainty was a central theme of the thoughts of all nine patients. Conceptions of needs accentuated after the onset of the disease, and mediated by uncertainty, were categorised, as were conceptions of strategies/attitudes for satisfying the needs and/or reducing uncertainty. A theoretical framework is presented, and recommendations for physical therapy are made.