OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effectiveness of pain coping skills training in pain, function, and psychological outcomes for patients with osteoarthritis, compared to the control group; and to compare the effectiveness of pain coping skills training between the intervention involving and without involving exercise. DATA SOURCES: PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, PEDro, ClinicalTrials.gov, and the WHO Clinical Trials Registry Platform (to 30 September 2020). REVIEW METHODS: To calculate the results, we used standardized mean difference, and mean difference for the outcomes of continuous variables, risk difference for the risk of adverse events. Heterogeneity was identified with I2 test, and publication bias was identified with Egger's test. RESULTS: A total of 1,195 patients with osteoarthritis underwent ten trials were included. The intervention group had significant differences in pain (SMD -0.18; 95% CI -0.29 to -0.06), function (SMD -0.19; -0.30 to -0.07), coping attempts (SMD 0.37; 0.24 to 0.49), pain catastrophizing (SMD -0.16; -0.29 to -0.02), and self-efficacy (SMD 0.27; 0.07 to 0.46) than the control group. Between-group differences measured by the McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index subscales of pain (MD -0.62; -1.48 to 0.24) or function (MD -3.01; -6.26 to 0.24) were not statistically significant and did not reach the minimal clinically important differences that have been established. Subgroup analyses revealed no significant subgroup differences. Besides, no specific intervention-related adverse events were identified. CONCLUSION: Our results supported the effectiveness and safety of pain coping skills training for managing osteoarthritis in pain, function, and psychological aspects. Besides, exercise could not add benefits when combined with pain coping skills training.

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