Nurse counseling of applied according to the theory of planned behavior in patients with rheumatoi̇d arthritis effect on pain, failure and functional status

This study was to evaluate the effect of pain, fatigue and functional status of in patients with rheumatoid arthritis aimed to determine the effect of nurse counseling applied with motivational interviews according to Planned Behavior Theory. The research was carried out in Hatay Mustafa Kemal University Health Practice and Research Hospital, rheumatology outpatient clinic, between January 2022 and July 2022. The research was conducted as a randomized controlled experimental study and was completed with 82 rheumatoid arthritis patients. After the patients in the intervention group were trained in the preliminary interview, nurse counseling was provided for 12 weeks in line with the motivational interview based on the Planned Behavior Theory. In obtaining patient data; Patient Description Form, McGill Pain Scale Short Form (MAS-SF), Bristol Rheumatoid Arthritis Fatigue Multidimensional Questionnaire (BRAF-MDQ), Stanford Health Assessment Scale (HAQ), and Behavior Change Checklist were used. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 26.0 according to appropriate statistical methods. It was determined that most of the patients participating in the study were female, married and primary school graduates. While it was observed that the pain, fatigue and health evaluation mean scores of the patients in the intervention group, which were high before the application, decreased significantly after the application, there was no significant change in the control group. It was seen that the nurse counseling applied in line with the motivational interview based on the theory of planned behavior was an effective intervention in managing the pain, fatigue and functional status of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. It is recommended that rheumatology nurses provide counseling services with motivational interviews based on theory/model in the education and follow-up of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.