Efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy for adherence, depression and negative illness representations in rheumatoid arthritis patients: A randomized controlled trial

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory polyarthritis with multiple clinical symptoms and psychological problems, such as depression. Psychotherapy can play an important role in achieving therapeutic goals.
The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of cognitive behavioral therapy for adherence, depression (CBT-AD) and negative illness representations in people with RA.
A clinical trial was conducted in Rheumatology’s clinic in a Shariaty hospital in Tehran during 2016-2017, Iran. Then, among 151 patients with rheumatoid arthritis, 28 patient were selected using the sampling judgment and half of them were randomly assigned to the CBT-AD (14 patients) and the others were in the control group (14 patients).
Psychological questionnaires including the illness perception questionnaire-revised, beck depression inventory and general adherence Scale were measured. All data were analyzed by independent t-test, Chi-square and multivariate covariance analysis.
Findings: The results showed that the baseline, post-test score between two intervention and control groups in three dimensions of illness representations (P CBT-AD is a potentially efficacious approach for individuals with RA struggling with depression at the same time, which leads to a reduction in depression, an increase in adherence and correction of negative illness representations.