Reumatoid artrit hos kvinnor. En litteraturstudie om kvinnliga patienters upplevelser av att leva med reumatoid artrit.
One of the bigger national diseases that belongs to the field of rheumatology is rheumatoid arthritis and it is three to four times more usual among women. The purpose of this study was to describe female patients' experience of living with rheumatoid arthritis. The method, was a review of the literature with eight articles accomplished the criteria for scientific quality done in the accordance to Polit, Beck & Hungler (2001) and are the bases to the conclusions of this study. The result shows five main themes and ten sub themes that illuminate the female patient's experience of living with rheumatoid arthritis. The main themes are: a) the pain, b) the development, c) the relation, d) the well-being and e) the future. These findings show that women who live with rheumatoid arthritis experiences pain as the greatest stress which influences their daily lives. Women's uncertainty about the pain has an influence on women's psychological well-being, relations with families and friends and their futures.