Negative social perception of hypothetical workers with rheumatoid arthritis.

In the present study, 340 college subjects evaluated the job performance of hypothetical workers of varying health status, to test the hypothesis that workers with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are more negatively perceived than other workers (paraplegic, healthy) despite equivalence in age, sex, education, job history, and time off from work for medical reasons. Results indicated that workers with RA are perceived as having significantly poorer interpersonal job skills and are deserving of significantly poorer scores for overall job performance, although no differences were obtained in the ratings of their job commitment or job expertise. The suggestion is made that an unfavorable social reaction to RA patients in the workplace is one factor that impairs the development of social support for these patients at work and contributes to their inflated disability rate.