Iranian Journal of Orthopedic Surgery

Abstract Abstract
Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease that reduces the quality of life in
patients. Stress is one of the important factors involved in the onset of the disease. The present study aimed
to evaluate the effect of stress inoculation training on the quality of life of patients with RA.
Methods: This randomized clinical trial had a control group and was performed on all patients with RA,
referred to the specialized RA center in 2016. In total, 30 pa􀆟ents were selected by random sampling and
were divided into two intervention and control groups using a random allocation method. In addition, the
data collection tool was the SF-36 ques􀆟onnaire. The subjects in the interven􀆟on group a􀆩ended 10 stress
inoculation training sessions, whereas the participants in the control group received no interventions. In the
end, the two groups filled the SF-36 tool as a pos􀆩est. Moreover, data analysis was performed using
independent t-test and covariance.
Results: In this study, the mean score of life quality significantly increased in the intervention group after the
intervention. Therefore, the quality of life score increased after the intervention, which showed the impact of
the interven􀆟on on the decrease of stress (P<0.001) and an increase in the quality of life and its components
(P<0.001).
Conclusion: According to the results of the study, stress inoculation training was introduced as an effective
approach to increase the quality of life of patients with RA.