[Significance of occupational, health and life satisfaction in coping with rheumatic complaints]

In a pilot study with a prospective study design we analyzed the interaction between disease modifying drugs and coping styles. We examined 45 inpatients with definite or classical rheumatoid arthritis at the beginning of disease modifying drug treatment and eight months later. In this paper we evaluate the role of health satisfaction in relation to an effective therapy. The results of the discriminant analyses between sufficient and non-sufficient persons show that a differential discrimination can be achieved with psychosocial variables, for example diseasecompetency and self-mobility. Finally, our results show that a disease modifying drug treatment in rheumatic diseases must be completed with psychosocial treatments.