My purpose in conducting this study was to identify and describe the illness‐related stressors and emotions experienced by elderly women with osteoarthritis and the coping strategies they used to manage these situations. The theoretical framework for the investigation was based on a process theory of stress and coping developed by Lazarus and Folkman (1984). In a home interview, 90 women completed a demographic profile and identified concerns, feelings, and coping strategies used to manage problems associated with osteoarthritis. Descriptive statistics and content analysis of data indicated that the stress of osteoarthritis involved physical, social, and psychological aspects of life and evoked both positive and negative feelings. The women used a broad repertoire of coping behaviors, including problem‐ and emotion‐focused strategies to manage the problems associated with osteoarthritis in their day‐to‐day life. This information has implications in both treatment and prevention areas for health professionals who provide services for this group of people.
Stress, emotions, and coping: A study of elderly women with osteoarthritis
Reprints and Corporate Permissions
Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?
To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:
Academic Permissions
Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?
Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:
If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.
Related Research Data
Related research
People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.
Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.
Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.