Maintaining good mental health in people with inflammatory arthritis: a qualitative study of patients' perspectives.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

It is well-documented that people with inflammatory arthritis (IA) exhibit a high prevalence of symptoms related to anxiety and depression. Less is known about what contributes to good mental health in people with IA. Therefore, this study aims to explore how some patients maintain good mental health despite living with IA.

Methods

Explorative qualitative interview study (one focus group, 12 individual interviews, n = 18) utilizing purposeful sampling. All interviews were audiotaped, transcribed, and managed using NVivo14 and employed a reflexive thematical analysis approach.

Results

We identified four main themes: 1) Assisted by a positive outlook on life-how participants' inherent positivity helped them cope with arthritis; 2) Moving towards

SUBMITTER: Abild SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11544728 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature