How Do Cognition and Emotion Regulation Strategies and Intolerance of Uncertainty Predict the Severity of Fatigue and Daily Life Activities of Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients?

Abstract

This study aims to define the relationship between cognitive emotion regulation, intolerance to uncertainty, and levels of fatigue in individuals with rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis affecting factors. The sample of the study consisted of 200 rheumatoid arthritis patients who matched the research criteria and were recruited from a rheumatology outpatient clinic. The research was conducted in a descriptive, cross-sectional, relation-seeking type. Cognitive Emotion Regulation Scale, Intolerance to Uncertainty Scale, and Fatigue Severity Scale were used in the study. More than half of the patients who participated in the study were female (74%) and had rheumatoid arthritis for five to ten years. 98% of them had severe fatigue. It was found that, for the majority of patients, rheumatoid arthritis first means pain (24%), second, fatigue/weakness (19%), and third, uncertainty (13.5%). The difference between the average scores of fatigue and the meaning of the disease, the status of performing daily life activities, and the occurrence of joint deformity were significant (p < 0.05). There was a significant relationship between all subscale scores of the intolerance of uncertainty scale and cognitive emotion regulation scale (p < 0.05). With a further analysis, it was found that dysfunctional (negative) cognitive emotion regulation strategies were related to the severity of fatigue (p < 0.05). In this study, it was concluded that as the intolerance of uncertainty increased in rheumatoid arthritis patients, their use of cognitive emotion regulation strategies increased; that the ability to perform daily life activities and the presence of joint deformity affect the use of cognitive emotion regulation strategies; as the fatigue felt by the patient increased, the use of dysfunctional cognitive emotion regulation strategies (decreasing the positive value, self-accusation) increased.