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As chronic illnesses, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), place an increased burden on health‐care systems, the ability of individuals to self‐manage these diseases is crucial.

To identify and synthesize the lived experience of self‐management described by adults living with RA.

A systematic search of five electronic databases (MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, PsycINFO and ASSIA) was undertaken to identify relevant studies. Data were extracted and quality‐assessed using CASP guidelines. A meta‐synthesis was conducted based on Thomas and Harden's thematic synthesis approach.

The search identified 8423 publications. After removing duplicates, 6527 records remained of which 32 studies met the inclusion criteria. Quality of studies was moderate to high, yet a considerable lack of reflection on researcher bias was evident. Our analysis identified 28 dimensions of self …