Activities of daily living in rheumatoid arthritis patients and coping methods with stress

This research was carried out to determine activities of daily living in rhematoid arthritis patients and coping methods with stress.The sampling as selected from the Düzce University Research and Practice Hospital Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Clinic in Düzce, it includes 33 patients applying to the hospital between October 2008 and March 2009. Data was collected trough a questionnaire consist of socio demographic characteristics and the particulars of their illness, a Visual Analog Scale, a Health Assessment Questionnaire, a Functional Independence Measure, a Style of Coping With Stress Scale. The data were analyzed by means of arithmetic mean and standard deviation, percentage, Mann Whitney U Test, Kruskall Wallis Varyans Analysis.87.9% of patients included into the study were female and mean age was found to be X=48.52±14.1, mean duration of disease was 7.30±7.05. Most of them were literate and/or graduated from primary school (33.3%), most of them were married (84.8%), living with their husband or children (36.4%).Most of the patients?(63.6%) functional limitation state of ?moderate and severe?on daily activities, 2/3 of patients (69.7%) were ?semi- dependency?, 81.8% of patients needed help for their daily activities and 36.4% patients were helped by their husband, 21.2% patients their children. 81.8% patients didn?t use any equipment for their daily activities.In the study, it was found that patients used ?Social Support Approach? as the mostfrequent way coping with stress. SBTÖ marks were showing no statistical difference (p>0.05) for the functional state of dependency /independency. There was no statiscally difference between the functional state of both groups using ?Self-Confident Approach, Optimistic Approach, Desperate Approach, Resigned Approach, Social Support Aproach?.Key-Words: Rheumatoid Arthritis, Daily Living Activities, Nursing Care, Functional State, Symptoms.