PSYCHOLOGICAL & PHYSICAL HEALTH IN ARTHRITIC BLACKS

这项研究的目的是系统地研究老年非裔美国人关节炎残疾与心理和身体健康之间的关系。与老年高加索人相比，老年非裔美国人被诊断出患有更多慢性疾病的比例不成比例，更有可能在生命早期被诊断出，并且更容易因疾病而丧失能力。 考虑到慢性病的增加，重要的是要检查老年非裔美国人的身体和心理健康结构之间的伴随关系。在理解这种关系时，提出了几个研究问题：1）在老年非裔美国人中，人口统计学因素（如年龄、性别和社会经济地位）与疾病严重程度、疼痛和关节炎引起的功能障碍之间是否存在关联？2)与非关节炎的成年人相比，关节炎的成年人报告更多的抑郁和躯体症状吗？关节炎的部位和类型是否影响抑郁和躯体症状的报告？本研究计划以五个特定目标来检视这些研究问题：1）收集150位50岁以上的非裔美国人的资料; 2）检视人口统计学因素、忧郁症状、功能障碍、疼痛与疾病严重程度之间的相关性; 3）评估人口统计学因素与身心健康之间关系的方向; 4）检查关节炎残疾的类型和位置;以及疾病严重程度、疼痛感知、功能障碍和抑郁症状之间的关系;和5）评估与疾病严重程度、疼痛感知和抑郁症状相关的个体方差的量。本研究强调了承认少数民族老年人不同的生活经历、健康状况和合并症可能会在他们的关节炎残疾经历中产生个体差异的重要性。

The objective of the proposed study is to systematically examine the relationship between arthritic disability and the psychological and physical health among older African Americans. Compared to elderly Caucasians, older African Americans are disproportionately diagnosed with more chronic diseases, are more likely to be diagnosed earlier in life, and are more incapacitated from the disease. Considering the increase in chronic illnesses, it is important to examine the concomitant relationship between the physical and mental health constructs among older African Americans. In understanding this relationship, several research questions have been proposed: 1) Is there an association between demographic factors (e.g. age, gender, and SES) and perceptions of disease severity, pain, and functional impairment due to arthritis among older African Americans?; 2) Do arthritic adults report more depressive and somatic symptoms compared to non arthritic adults?; and 3) Does location and type of arthritic disorder influence reports of depressive and somatic symptoms? Five specific aims are planned to examine these research questions: 1) To collect data from 150 African Americans 50 years of age and older; 2) To examine the intercorrelations between demographic factors, depressive symptoms, functional impairment, and pain and disease severity; 3) To assess the direction of the relationship between demographic factors and physical and psychological health; 4) To examine the type of arthritic disability and location; and the relationship between disease severity, pain perception, functional impairment, and depressive symptoms; and 5) To assess the amount of individual variance associated in disease severity, pain perception and depressive symptoms. This research addresses the importance of acknowledging that different life experiences, health, and comorbidity experienced by minority elderly may create sources of individual variation in their experience of arthritic disability.