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Health status, cognitive coping, and depressive symptoms: testing for a mediator effect
Matthew P Martens, Jerry C Parker1, Karen L Smarr
1Research Service, Harry S Truman Memorial Veterans' Hospital, University of Missouri-Columbia, 65201, USA.
The Journal of Rheumatology
|August 4, 2005
Summary
Cognitive coping strategies mediate the link between health status and depression in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, particularly at moderate depression levels. This mediation was observed post-treatment and at six-month follow-up.
Area of Science:
- Psychiatry
- Rheumatology
- Health Psychology
Background:
- Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is linked to depression.
- Cognitive coping's role in this relationship is understudied.
- Pharmacological interventions for depression in RA patients warrant further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the mediating effect of cognitive coping on the relationship between health status and depression in RA patients.
- To assess this mediation over the course of a pharmacological intervention.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of data from 54 RA patients diagnosed with major depression.
- Collection of depression, health status, and cognitive coping data at baseline, post-intervention, 6-month, and 15-month follow-up.
- Utilized the Pain Control and Rational Thinking factor score from the Coping Strategies Questionnaire.
Main Results:
- A direct relationship between health status and depression was consistently observed.
- Cognitive coping mediated this relationship at post-intervention and 6-month follow-up.
- Mediation by cognitive coping was specific to moderate levels of depression.
Conclusions:
- Cognitive coping significantly mediates the health status-depression link in RA patients.
- The mediating effect is time-limited, observed up to six months post-intervention.
- Cognitive coping strategies may be a target for interventions to manage depression in RA.