behavioral determinants of self-management behaviors in rheumatoid arthritis patients: a qualitative study

Background: self-management behaviors (smb) play a significant role in controlling the adverse effects of rheumatoid arthritis (ra) as a chronic disease. objectives: the main purpose of this study was to explore the behavioral determinants of smb who suffer from ra. methods: this is a qualitative study with directed approach to content analysis of in-depth semi-structured interviews. a total of 30 ra patients (15 in good and 15 in worst smb) were recruited in this study based on the precede model (predisposing factor). the participants were recruited using a purposeful sampling to reach the maximum variation sampling. this sampling took over 6 months in 2015 at the rheumatology clinic in the shariati hospital, tehran university of medical sciences. results: five main theme and 14 sub-categories came out from the interviews. the main themes include: perceived benefit, perceived severity, perceived barrier, attitude, and self-efficacy. most of the participants considered self-efficacy and perceived barrier as the most significant determinants of smb in ra patients. conclusions: the study provided better understanding of behavioral determinants of smb in ra patients, the finding suggested that improving self-efficacy and eliminating barriers in ra patients can help researcher, physician, health worker, and planner design proper program and strategy in order to improve smb and their health.