[Possibilities and limits of daily coping with illness by patients with chronic polyarthritis]

A central problem of persons with chronic polyarthritis is the necessary adaptation to deteriorating health in everyday activities. Difficulties and burdens of this adaptation are parts of the study undertaken in the Unna Model, which was part of the research on "Local Services for CP-Patients". In the first part two female patients are described with regards to these everyday problems of "normalization", i.e., including health conditions resp. daily activities. An important element is the microsocial context: mutual expectations and support in the family and at the work place. In the second part some quantitative results of interviews with 93 cP-patients are presented. They show the importance that is given by these interviewed persons to these daily adaptations, self help, and support.