Using practical health psychology approaches in your rheumatology practice

People with rheumatic conditions face many challenges. These include coping with the emotional impact of debilitating chronic disease, overcoming physical symptoms, such as pain and fatigue, to carry out activities of daily living, and undertaking the self-management behaviours necessary to prevent disease progression and to limit symptoms (e.g., medication adherence, maintaining a physically active lifestyle) [1]. Each of these areas concerns the field of health psychology, which has generated a wealth of research findings on the patient-centred processes and clinical actions that can help patients to achieve positive outcomes