Effect of Patient Education in Rheumatic Diseases

The Effect of Patient Education on Coping and Well Being in Patients With Arthritis.

The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of patient education (PE) in patients with arthritis. PE has become a task that is dictated by law in Norway, and is increasingly used as an element in the treatment of patients with chronic complaints. Our hypothesis is that

- PE delivered as group education, followed by an individual nurse consultation increases the patients wellbeing an ability to cope with the disease.

There has been a rather long tradition of PE for patients with arthritis. A recent systematic review found that PE had small short-term effects on disability, joint counts, patient global assessment, psychological status and depression, but this effect disappeared on the latest time of follow up (3-14 months). A recent large British study also failed to show an effect on pain, physical functioning, or contact with primary care after 12 months, but found a significant effect on anxiety and improved the participants' perceived self efficacy. This indicates that the present forms of interventions fails to show a long term effect. One possible reason for the lack of long term effect might be that these interventions are given to groups only. Patients seem to prefer one-to-one interaction regarding information about the disease and its treatment together with emotional aspects, while education in groups are preferred for physical training and relational topics.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Polyarthritis
• 18-80 years
• native Norwegian speaking
• able to understand and participate in the PE program

Exclusion Criteria:

• Participated in a patient educational program the latest 12 months