Et liv med psoriasis - et litteratur review

Psoriasis is a non-contagious skin disease affecting the patient’s physical, mental and social well-being. But what do we know about living with psoriasis? The aim of this article is to review published research literature dealing with the impact psoriasis has on a patient’s life in general, quality of life, and how the person copes with his or her disease. Databases were searched for relevant articles, published from 1999-2009 and dealing with psoriasis, quality of life and coping. Twenty-one articles were found and systematically analyzed in the theoretical framework of coping. The analysis shows that researchers describe a host of problems related to psychical, psychological, socioeconomic and relational issues, and how they influence on life and the feeling of quality of life. Different coping strategies are identified, and the researchers see them as (un)appropriately in relation
to the feeling of quality of life. The conclusion is that the results are inconclusive and pointing in many directions. Research in this area is limited and difficult to compare because of differences in measuring scales, and the results are constructed without context in mind. Especially qualitative
research with an inclusion of the patients’ social contexts to make us more knowledgeable on the complex situation that a human with psoriasis lives with is needed.