A 5-Year Follow-Up of a Controlled Trial of an Arthritis Education Programme

Abstract

A 5-yr follow-up of an arthritis education programme is reported. After adjustment for those lost, deceased or moved away, the 5-yr response rate was 75% among intervention subjects and 78% among controls. Individuals who participated in the education programme maintained their increased knowledge in some aspects. The relative difference in pain and disability over 5 yr was greater in the control group. Most individuals were less active at practising exercise after 5 yr. Improvement in performing exercise and joint protection shown at 12-months follow-up did not persist. Additional questions after 5 yr showed that participants in the education programme had significantly more contact with rheumatologists, physiotherapists and occupational therapists. The participants developed an increased internal sense of control of the disease between 12 months and 5 yr. There was also a significant reduction in reported problems with their disease after 12 months, maintained after 5 yr. This may indicate that patient education contributes to the patient's feeling of responsibility for, and ability to cope with, their diseases.

Self-management of rheumatic diseases: state of the art and future perspectives

“…Little is known about benefits beyond 12 months as only two had longer-term follow-ups, although both showed some continuing benefits 14 23. Previous research has identified that the ASMP led to sustained benefits over 4 years and was cost-effective46—a multidisciplinary 20 h programme over 8 weeks led to significantly less pain in comparison with the control group at 5 years,47 and a 10 h educational-behavioural programme over 4 weeks led to significantly better function in comparison with the control group at 4 years48—but more research is needed in other SMIs. We recommend that SMI studies that demonstrate benefits at 6–12 months should seek funding to extend follow-up and evaluate cost-effectiveness, to provide data for service development decisions.…”

Effects of patient education on compliance with basic treatment regimens and health in recent onset active rheumatoid arthritis

“…Adherence to prescription of physical exercise was considered in these studies 18-21. Only Lindroth et al found effects on compliance with ergonomic measures 21. These studies did not take medication into account.…”

Long-term maintenance of increased exercise involvement following a self-management intervention for housebound older adults with arthritis

“…Type of arthritis was recorded by the case manager. A composite physical factor (from -1 to +1) was created through a factor score resulting from factor analysis of various scales that evaluated pain intensity, fatigue,(0–100 VAS)[13] limitations and stiffness (0–5 WOMAC)[31]. Those scales were used in various study on with arthritis individuals [6,32-34].…”

“…Barlow et al [14] observed that individuals with arthritis who participated in a community-based self-management intervention successfully maintained changes in communication with physician, use of strategies of distraction and visualization, performance of relaxation and flexibility exercises at 4 and 12 months post-intervention. Conversely, Lindroth et al [12] found that among rheumatoid arthritis (RA) participants, frequency of practice was not maintained either at 12 months post-intervention or 5 years later [13]. Finally, the only study evaluating maintenance of changes from a home-based arthritis intervention showed that improvements in frequency of walking and level of household and self-care activities were maintained [16] for RA participants at 12 and 52 weeks post-intervention.…”