Anger, pain behaviour and feelings of well-being amongst long-term arthritis sufferers

Coates, D. and Pretty, G. and Bramston, P. and Beccaria, G. (2006) Anger, pain behaviour and feelings of well-being amongst long-term arthritis sufferers. In: Psychology Bridging the Tasman: Science, Culture and Practice, 26-30 Sep 2006, Auckland, New Zealand.

Preview

Text (Documentation) APS2006.pdf Download (1560Kb)

Abstract

Anger is rarely investigated in the chronic pain disability research despite the identification of a substantial association between negative affect and chronic pain. It seems that research into depression and anxiety is far more common. The present exploratory study examined the extent and nature of self-reported anger in a sample of 28 male and 64 female rheumatoid or osteoarthritis sufferers and the impact of anger on their perceived well-being. Interestingly, anger levels were no higher than those of the general normative population despite severe pain and restricted life activities over many years. Discussion canvasses the possibilities that participants were not angry at all, or that early anger has dissipated over the decades or that public admissions of anger were hidden and repressed, perhaps as being unhelpful. The relationships between arthritis related impairment, anger and well-being were explored with regression analyses revealing that while none of the sub-scale scores on anger significantly predicted overall well-being, both Trait-Anger and Anger Expression-Out contributed significantly to the prediction of specific aspects of well-being such as satisfaction with health and life achievement. The implications for clinical practice and research are discussed, particularly in the light of alternative anger dimensions being explored by Spielberger and colleagues.

Statistics for this ePrint Item

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Commonwealth Reporting Category E) (Paper)
Refereed:	Yes
Item Status:	Live Archive
Additional Information:	Abstract published.
Faculty / Department / School:	Historic - Faculty of Sciences - Department of Psychology
Date Deposited:	30 Nov 2007 11:55
Last Modified:	20 Jun 2018 05:21
Uncontrolled Keywords:	depression; chronic pain; moods; behaviour; arthritis
Fields of Research :	11 Medical and Health Sciences > 1103 Clinical Sciences > 110322 Rheumatology and Arthritis 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1701 Psychology > 170101 Biological Psychology (Neuropsychology, Psychopharmacology, Physiological Psychology) 11 Medical and Health Sciences > 1117 Public Health and Health Services > 111714 Mental Health
Socio-Economic Objective:	C Society > 92 Health > 9204 Public Health (excl. Specific Population Health) > 920408 Health Status (e.g. Indicators of Well-Being)
URI:	http://eprints.usq.edu.au/id/eprint/12081

Actions (login required)

Archive Repository Staff Only