Perceived Social Support Depression and Pain in Arthritis Patient

In current study the effect of perceived social support on pain intensity and level of depression in arthritis patients was investigated. The aim was to test the stress-buffering hypothesis which suggests that an adequate level of social support if provided in time will decrease harmful consequences of stressors on health. It was assumed that high level of perceived social support will decrease intensity of pain and level of depression in arthritis patients. The sample consisted of (N=60)female arthritisoutpatients selected from three hospitals of Peshawar, namely, Lady reading, Hayatabad Medical Complex, and Khyber Teaching through Convenient Sampling Technique. The Multi-Dimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (Zimet et al., 1988) was administered to measure social support available, theVisual Analogue Scale (Gracely,McGrath & Dubner, 1978)was used to measure intensity of pain and the Saddiqui Shah Depression Scale(Siddiqui, & Shah, 1997)was administered to measure the level of depression of the participants. Results showed that participants who reported higher social support available experienced low intensity of pain and low level of depression than those reported low social support available. Theresults support hypotheses.The findings have important implications in clinical settings, for the medical doctors, and nurses to recognize this psychological factor and to encourage family members, friends and significant others to provide social support to the patients, so that they can cope with their disease effectively