Marriage, social support, and adjustment to rheumatic disease.
Review
Overview
abstract
The family is an important source of support for the patient with RA. At the same time, the illness creates stresses for family members that may affect their well-being or inhibit their ability to provide support to the patient. In designing support interventions, one cannot assume that difficulties in adjusting to chronic illness reflect a lack of support from the family or that the patient should be the sole target of intervention.