An aquatic exercise program is one of the nursing intervention for the patients having rheumatoid arthritis. The purpose of this study was to obtain the effect of aquatic exercise program on depression and helplessness in the rheumatoid arthritis patients. Thirty five patients with rheumatoid arthritis were the subjects of this study. who were treated to the rheumatism center at a hospital in Seoul from December 1992 to April 1993. The data were collected before and after aguatic excercise. All data collected were analyzed using percent, t-test, ANCOVA with SPSS $pc^+$ program. The findings of this study were as follows : 1. The score of depression was not different between experimental group and control group(P=0.178). 2. There was significant difference in the helplessness score between experimental group and control group(F=4.60, P=0.039).