[A study on the relationships of discomfort, self-esteem, personality and life satisfaction in persons with rheumatoid arthritis].

The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation of discomfort, self-esteem, personality and life-satisfaction in persons with rheumatoid arthritis and to provide basic data to help them attain a better quality of life. From Jan. 27 to Feb. 24, 1988, 53 patients, registered at a rheumatic clinic at one general hospital in Seoul, were accepted as subjects for this study. The instruments used for this study were a discomfort scale and life-satisfaction scale developed by the researcher, Rosenberg's Self-esteem Scale and Wallston and Wallston's Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (MEILC) Scale. The reliability of the scales were tested by Cronsbach's alpha. The collected data were analyzed by the SAS program using unpaired t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson's Correlation Coefficients. The results were as follows: 1. There was a significant difference in the subjects perceived discomfort level (t = -3.49, p = .0010) between the onset of the disease (14.87 +/- 9.02) and the present (19.87 +/- 8.44). 2. There was a significant correlation between the MHLC-internal score and the MHLC-chance score (r = -.4366, p = .0011). 3. The findings related to the demographic variables regarding the MHLC scores were as follows: 1) Regarding sex, there was a significant difference for the MHLC-internal score (t = 4.2572, df = 15.2, p = .0007) between male (32.13 +/- 2.47) and female (27.56 +/- 4.17). But the MHLC-chance score for male (15.13 +/- 2.85) was lower (t = 3.153 9, df = 21.8, p = .0047) than for female (19.47 +/- 6.29). 2) Regarding educational background, the MHLC-chance score for the below-high school group (20.52 +/- 5.81) was higher (t = 2.5450, df = 51.0, p = .0140) than the college graduate group (16.41 +/- 5.76). 4. The average Self-esteem score was 26.87 (S.D. = 5.29) and there was a significant correlation between the Self-esteem score and the MHLC-chance score (r = .3122, p = .0026). 5. It was found that the subjects' Discomfort score was correlated with the Self-esteem score (r = -.3788, p = .0051) and the Life-satisfaction score (r = -.3570, p = .0087). It was also found that subjects' Self-esteem score was correlated with the Life-satisfaction score (r = .4474, p = .0008).