This review suggests that physical activity and diet programs are beneficial, specifically for pain relief (9 grade A recommendations) and improved functional status (6 grade A and 7 grade C+ recommendations), for adults with OA who are obese or overweight. The Ottawa Panel was able to demonstrate that when comparing physical activity alone, diet alone, physical activity combined with diet, and control groups, the intervention including physical activity and diet produced the most beneficial results.

Objective. To assess the extent to which an online patient decision aid reduced decisional conflict and improved self-management knowledge/skills in patients who were considering methotrexate for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods. We used a mixed-methods pre-post study design. Eligible participants had a diagnosis of RA, had been prescribed methotrexate but were unsure about starting it, and had access to the internet. Outcome included the Decisional Conflict Scale, the Methotrexate in RA Knowledge Test, and the Effective Consumer Scale. Paired t-tests were used to assess changes before and after the intervention. Randomly selected participants were interviewed at the end of the study about their experiences with the decision aid.

Results suggest that inter-professional education may be an effective method for dissemination of guidelines and has potential to improve the delivery of arthritis care, particularly when nurse practitioners and rehabilitation therapists are involved in the care of patients.

The results for the reliability and validity of this measure support its value for use in clinical and quality improvement work as well as research.