Inclusion criteria
Sample	Adults aged 18+ years who have a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis.
	No restrictions will be applied based on severity or duration of illness or any other demographic variable.
Phenomenon of interest	Perceptions, attitudes, perspectives and experiences of adults with RA towards: The lived experience of RA Self‐management, disease management, self‐treatment, self‐medication Self‐care, self‐help, self‐concept, self‐efficacy, self‐actualization, self‐empowerment Resilience, coping, psychological adaptation Cost of illness, treatment burden
Design, evaluation, research type	Studies in the English language, from any publication date and any geographical location.
	Studies that address the lived experience of self‐management or self‐care or coping in rheumatoid arthritis patients.
	Studies conducted using qualitative methods (eg interviews, focus groups, ethnography). This includes: Primary and secondary qualitative studies. A qualitative study as part of a mixed‐methods study. Mixed‐method studies are included (only when qualitative data were reported separately)
	Peer‐reviewed journal articles only.
	Studies involving people with diseases other than RA (ie mixed populations) will be included only if outcomes/results for people with RA are presented separately, and only if this is suggested within the title or abstract.