Beliefs about pain control and acceptance of illness in patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis

Introduction
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic disease accompanied by acute pain complaints, which often bring about a lack of acceptance of illness and various beliefs about pain control.

Aim of the study
The study was aimed at determining methods of pain control and the relationship between pain intensity, sociodemographic data, and acceptance of illness in people suffering from rheumatoid arthritis.

Material and methods
The study was conducted in a group of 80 patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. The study was carried out with the application of the Acceptance of Illness Scale (AIS), the Beliefs about Pain Control Questionnaire (BPCQ), the Numerical Rating Scale (NRS), and the authors’ own questionnaire. The findings were statistically analysed by means of IBM SPSS, Statistica 20 software.

Results
An analysis of the study findings showed that a higher level of acceptance of illness coincided with better pain control, including personal resources, accidental events, and external factors. Internal locus of health control was observed mainly in the case of married respond-ents who suffered from the disease for less than six years. Contrasting results were found in the group of widowed patients and the ones who were diagnosed with the disease less than a year earlier, who tended to believe that accidental events and external factors have a bigger impact on their health. The influence of external factors was also prevalent in the group of respondents who suffered from the disease for about 15 years.

Conclusions
The level of acceptance of illness in patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis is determined by their beliefs about pain control based on internal resources and doctors’ influence.