Background There is an increasing call to use patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) in health outcome research, because the perspective of patients is an essential part concerning the end results of health care. The coverage of patients' perspective by PROMs relevant in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been examined regarding all domains of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) except personal factors (PFs). Since the ICF did not classify PF, some researchers attempted to provide a classification of the PFs. Objectives We aimed to identify themes meaningful to people with RA, to determine which of these were attributed to PFs previously and to explore their coverage by PROMs. Methods We explored life stories to identify themes meaningful to people with RA and determined whether they have been previously attributed to PFs in the existing literature. Additionally we conducted a systematic literature search to identify PROMs relevant in RA. Finally, we explored whether the identified PROMs cover those themes which were attributed PFs previously. Results Twenty-two themes were found to be meaningful to 15 people with RA, of which 13 were attributed to PFs previously. Five themes were linked to activity and participation or environmental factors and four were not covered by the ICF. The systematic literature search resulted in the identification of 33 PROMs. Of these, the London Coping with Rheumatoid Arthritis Questionnaire and the Rheumatoid Arthritis Self-Efficacy Questionnaire covered most PFs. Examples of the coverage of themes attributed to PFs by PROMs are depicted at the Table 1.