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Abstract Joint pain is a highly prevalent condition in the older population, fluctuates in frequency over time, and is strongly linked to psychological factors as well as disability (Donald and Foy, 2004). Only a minority of the older adults consult the general practitioner for joint pain because they believed that, joint pain and stiffness are seen as an inevitable part of ageing for which the doctor can do little (Gignac, Davis and et al., 2006). Older adults with joint pain and comorbidity may have a higher risk of poor functional outcome, decreased quality of life, can not coping with their pain and possibly need more attention in primary care (Sawyer et al, 2006). So pain coping strategies are effective methods for dealing with joint pain among elderly people. It enhances the elder’s belief in their own abilities, and develops methods for dealing with stressful situations (Thomas, 2007). This study was conducted in order to assess pain coping strategies among elderly people with joint pain. Subjects A convenience sample of 327 old people (136 male and 191 female) who attended to out patient clinics (orthopedic) during the period of the study(one year) was selected according to the following criteria :- Their age above 60 years. Both sexs They complain from joint pain. Alert and agree to participate. Summary 75 Tools of data collection Data was collected through using two tools: (1): Interview Questionnaire consist of five parts (sociodemographic data- history of chronic disease- pharmacological history- information about joint pain- beliefs and attitudes of elderly toward pain) (2): Coping strategies questionnaire consist of(Coping selfstatements, ignoring pain sensation. diverting attention, reinterpreting pain sensation, praying and hoping, catastrophizing, increasing activity level, increasing pain behaviors). The main findings of the study revealed the following: The most common causes of joint pain were arthritis followed by osteoarthritis and the major clinical manifestation were the morning stiffness, exacerbation of pain with exercise and hotness of joint. The highest percentage of the affected joint among the sample was knee joint followed by back joint. Regarding the effect of joint pain on elderly people, more than half of them the joint pain affected on their ability to exercise day to day activities, mood, social relation with other, sleep and their ability to concentrate. The majority of the sample believed that the pain is natural result of getting older and two thirds of them had some control and could decrease the joint pain to some what. Elderly people with young age ranged from 60-70 years old used a verity of pain coping strategies to cope with their joint pain especially cognitive coping strategies rather than Summary 76 behavioral coping strategies. While the oldest elderly people (80-91 years old) used maladaptive coping strategies as catastrophizing. There were highly statistical significant differences between males and females regarding different types of pain coping strategies as ignoring pain, catastrophizing and increasing pain behavior. There were statistical significant differences between some types of pain coping strategies and their education level There were statistical significant differences between the subjects who had severe pain and the other who had moderate pain regarding some types of pain coping strategies There were statistical significant differences between categories of income regarding reinterpreting pain sensation, catastrophizing and increasing activity level. Elderly people who had no history of chronic disease used more pain coping strategies per day than who had to control their joint pain. It was concluded that joint pain is very common among older people in the community and is the major cause of disability, elderly people used a variety of pain coping strategies to cope with their joint pain especially cognitive coping strategies rather than behavioral coping strategies. The highest percentage of them always used praying and hoping for coping with joint pain, elderly women used coping strategies per day more than men to manage their pain. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that: 1- Integrate elderly care, including pain assessment measures, as an element in primary health care in Egypt. 2-Health education about non-pharmacological pain relieving measures and change elderly misconception about pain. 3-Development and implementation of pain coping strategies programs for elderly people with joint pain. |