Coping and life satisfaction in elderly women with osteoarthritis

The relationships among illness‐related stress and emotions, coping strategies, socio‐economic status and life satisfaction of 90 elderly women with osteoarthritis were explored in this descriptive, correlational study Results of self‐report interview data indicated that the women expenenced both positive and negative emotions in relation to their day‐to‐day life with osteoarthritis The coping behaviours used to manage the perceived stress of osteoarthritis included confrontive, palliative and emotive strategies Path analysis supported a significant and positive relationship between coping and life satisfaction and between objective and subjective measures of life satisfaction