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A Controlled Community Study of Distress and Resilience in Women Diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

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Abstract

This study examines psychological and physical influences on the distress and well-being of patients with chronic rheumatic diseases. The study aims were to (1) evaluate the relative contribution of objective disease activity and psychological factors on the wellbeing of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE); (2) to compare the psychological distress of SLE patients to fibromyalgia (FM) patients and healthy controls, and to (3) characterize subgroups of patients by performing cluster analysis using psychological variables. Participants were ascertained from closed forums and social media channels resulting in 41 women with a diagnosis of SLE, 47 with a diagnosis of FM, and 77 healthy controls (HC). Hierarchical linear regression for well-being of SLE patients found that most of the variance was accounted for by social support. Cluster analysis performed on the entire sample identified two clusters, a distressed group tending to Type D personality, anxiety and depression, low in well-being and social support, and a resilient group; the proportion of resilient individuals was highest in the HC intermediate in the SLE group and lowest in the FM group. The importance of psychological variables vs disease severity in these two rheumatic diseases for wellbeing is demonstrated by these results. The results suggest that psychological interventions that enhance the experience of social support in medical settings, might benefit patients with both diseases, and be of particular importance to the well-being of patients who are more distressed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Program in Clinical Psychology, Ruppin Academic Center, Emek Hefer, Israel

    Ada H. Zohar

  2. Lior Zfaty Center for Suicide and Mental Pain Research, Emek Hefer, Israel

    Ada H. Zohar

  3. Ruppin Academic Center, Zohar, Bait 3 Office #11, 42250, Emek Hefer, Israel

    Ada H. Zohar

  4. Gerontological Clinical Psychology, Ruppin Academic Center, Emek Hefer, Israel

    Maor Yeshua

  5. Behavioral Sciences Department, Ruppin Academic Center, Emek Hefer, Israel

    Sapir Ofek & Yael Yaniv

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  1. Ada H. Zohar
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  3. Sapir Ofek
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  4. Yael Yaniv
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The original study was conceived by Ada H. Zohar Sapir Ofek and Yael Yaniv. Data collection was conducted by Sapir Ofek and Yael Yaniv. The manuscript draft was written by Ada H. Zohar; Maor Yeshua conducted some of the data analyses and contributed substantially to the current form of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Ada H. Zohar.

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Ada H Zohar, Maor Yeshua, Sapir Ofek, and Yael Yaniv declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Zohar, A.H., Yeshua, M., Ofek, S. et al. A Controlled Community Study of Distress and Resilience in Women Diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. J Clin Psychol Med Settings 30, 435–444 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10880-022-09903-7

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