Excess weight can contribute to osteoarthritis of the knee. Preventing weight gain is a method of prevention of this chronic condition. If a patient does have the condition, however, the aim becomes to teach patients to control it. Pells and coworkers looked at arthritis self-efficacy and self-efficacy for resisting eating as predictors of pain, disability, and eating behaviors in overweight or obese patients with osteoarthritis of the knee. Patients with a body mass index between 25 and 42 completed measures of arthritis-related self-efficacy, weight-related self-efficacy, pain, physical disability, psychological disability, overeating, and demographic and medical information. Several analyses were conducted to examine whether arthritis self-efficacy (efficacy for pain control, physical function, and other symptoms) and self-efficacy for resisting eating accounted for significant variance in pain, disability, and eating behaviors after controlling for demographic and medical characteristics. Results showed that self-efficacy for pain accounted for 14% of the variance in pain, compared to only 3% accounted for by self-efficacy for physical function and other symptoms. Self-efficacy for physical function accounted for 10% of the variance in physical disability, while self-efficacy for pain and other symptoms accounted for 3%. Self-efficacy for other (emotional) symptoms and resisting eating accounted for 21% of the variance in psychological disability, while self-efficacy for pain control and physical function were not significant predictors. Self-efficacy for resisting eating accounted for 28% of the variance in eating behaviors.

VALUE OF STUDY TO READER: The findings show that self-efficacy is important in understanding pain and behavioral adjustment in overweight or obese arthritis patients. Moreover, as the contributions of self-efficacy were domain specific, interventions targeting both arthritis self-efficacy and self-efficacy for resisting eating could be helpful in this population. Excess weight is a major problem in our population. Patients at risk for developing osteoarthritis should include, as part of any self-management program, self-efficacy training that could increase both arthritis self-efficacy and resistance to eating. If we aren’t confident we can do something in a given situation, we are unlikely to do it.

JJ Pells et al. Arthritis self-efficacy and self-efficacy for resisting eating: Relationships to pain, disability, and eating behavior in overweight and obese individuals with osteoarthritic knee pain. Pain, August 29, 2007.