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The Impact of Positive Affect: Two Weekly Assessment Studies on Benefits of Positive Emotions in Patients with a Chronic Painful Disease

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The Human Pursuit of Well-Being

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Abstract

We need to know more of what kind of mechanisms is involved when stress or pain is prevented or reduced and also why some people maintain mental health and well-being in spite of aversive conditions. The impact of positive affect was investigated in patients with a chronic painful disease such as rheumatoid arthritis. Main findings from analyses reported in two different papers are presented in this chapter. The dataset applied in both papers consisted of 43 participants that were interviewed by telephone for eight subsequent weeks. Multilevel modeling was applied to analyze the data. Results revealed that positive affect was a source of resilience in the stress-negative affect relationship, and also that for those patients with higher level of readiness to change, positive affect was related to less pain. Results indicated that positive emotions may be contributing factors in the process of recovery for patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway

    Elin Strand

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  1. Elin Strand
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Correspondence to Elin Strand .

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  1. Fac. Arts & Sciences, University of Rijeka, Slavka Krautzeka bb, Rijeka, 51000, Croatia

    Ingrid Brdar

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Strand, E. (2011). The Impact of Positive Affect: Two Weekly Assessment Studies on Benefits of Positive Emotions in Patients with a Chronic Painful Disease. In: Brdar, I. (eds) The Human Pursuit of Well-Being. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1375-8_7

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