The Use of Theory of Planned Behavior Framework in Improving Self- Adherence of Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a chronic disease that requires sufferers to have self-adherence in carrying out treatment. Unfortunately, initial interviews with RA sufferers showed that there were still many of them who lacked self-adherence, which resulted in the worsening of their health condition. This study aims to improve self-adherence RA patients through the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) framework which is designed to be an outreach activity. The counseling is carried out in one day and is divided into 3 sessions, each session having a duration of 20 to 40 minutes. Participants in the study were 12 members of the Sahabat Rheumatoid Arthritis (SAHARA) community who were RA sufferers as well as agents of change for other RA sufferers who had not yet joined the community. The results showed that the participants experienced a significant increase in self- adherence (p = 0.005 < 0.05). These results prove that counseling activities designed using the Theory of Planned Behavior framework can increase self-adherence of Rheumatoid Arthritis sufferers in undergoing treatment