Purpose : The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of the self- efficacy, group cohesion and family support on adherence of aquatic exercise in arthritis patients. Method : The Subjects were 30 patients with arthritis who had participated in the 6-week aquatic exercise programs of Korean Rheumatology Health Professionals Society. All subjects were interviewed from November to December, 2001(1st) and Feburary, 2002(2nd) using a structured questionnaire which was composed of 42 items. SPSS Win 10.0 was used for data analysis. Results : Ten out of thirty were adherer who were keeping aquatic exercise for three months since they completed 6-week aquatic exercise program. The major reasons of adherence were affectional reasons and general condition improvement on the first month. The reasons of 3-month adherence were improvement of arthritis symptoms, affectional improvement, expectations, general condition improvement and group activity. The major reasons of drop out were environment factors and physical factors. The environmental reason were time shortage, economic problem and long distance. And the physical factor were cold, pain and other health problem. The scores of self-efficacy were decreased from 528.00 to 476.00 within 3 months after compeleting aquatic exercise program and that was statistically significant(p=.029). But there were no statistically differences in group cohesion and family support. There was a significant positive correlation between exercise adherence and self-efficacy. Factors influencing the exercise adherence was self-efficacy which accounted for 23% of the variance in the exercise adherence. Conclusion : In conclusion, self-efficacy is a significant variable in the exercise adherence and changes within 3 month after completing aquatic exercise program. The results of this study suggested that the strategy for maintaining self-efficacy should be developed.