Perceptions of patients with rheumatoid arthritis about self-assessment of disease activity after watching an educational video: a qualitative pilot study from the AUTO-DAS in Middle Eastern Arab countries project

Abstract

To evaluate the perceptions of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) about self-assessment of their disease activity after watching an educational video. Consecutive patients with RA consulting their rheumatologist in six Middle Eastern Countries were invited to watch an educational video developed to teach self-assessment using Disease Activity Score (DAS-28). Then, a rheumatology nurse conducted a semi-structured interview and collected the patients’ perception about the understanding of the video, feasibility, capability and confidence in performing self-assessment using Likert-type items. The degree of confidence with self-assessment was correlated to the patients’ socio-demographic characteristics. Sixty-two patients were included and had an overall positive reaction to the video. It was easy to understand in 96% and helped facilitate self-assessment in 92% of cases. Self-assessment was considered totally feasible in 74%, and 66% of patients were capable of always doing it, with a confidence of 60% (always) to 34% (sometimes). Confidence was associated with a higher educational level. Nevertheless, 77% of patients felt that the self-assessment would not fully replace the physician’s visit. Open-ended questions identified five themes: better understanding of the disease, easier communication with the rheumatologist, less consultation time, difficulty with the scoring part and importance of practice. Patients with RA felt that self-assessment was feasible and helpful in understanding RA, improving communication with the rheumatologist and shortening the visit time. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00296-021-04799-2.

Approaches to improving symptom appraisal: a systematic literature review

“…Of these 29 studies, 13 were categorised as having low risk of bias,36–48 10 were categorised as having moderate risk of bias,49–58 and 6 were unable to be assessed due to a lack of detailed evaluation of the developed approaches 59–64. The raw scores of these studies were shown in online supplemental file 3.…”

“…Of the 29 studies included in the synthesis, 16 focused on cancer,36–42 49–54 59–61 5 on respiratory diseases,43 44 55 62 63 3 on cardiovascular diseases45 46 64 and 1 each on other health conditions including concussion,56 labour,57 malaria,47 neonatal illness48 and RA 58. Six were community-based studies engaging various parties (eg, educators and women leaders) in the communities and employing different outreach efforts (eg, flyers and radio advertisements),37 39 47 52 61 64 among which two involved training of both laypersons and health providers 47 64.…”

“…Five studies reported only the development of approaches,59 60 62–64 while the remaining 24 reported both the development and evaluation of approaches using quantitative and/or qualitative measures (online supplemental file 4). 36–58 61…”

Telehealth in rheumatology: the 2021 Arab League of Rheumatology Best Practice Guidelines

“…Physicians can also send a brochure or video tutorial regarding the maneuvers that will be performed for the physical examination to the patient, before the teleconsultation [23][24][25][26][27]. It is recommended to translate and validate such tutorials in Arabic, with adaptation to local dialects where appropriate [23,28].…”

Telehealth in Rheumatology: The 2021 Arab League of Rheumatology Best Practice Guidelines

“…[25][26][27][28][29] It is recommended to translate and validate such tutorials in Arabic, with adaptation to local dialects where appropriate. [25,30] BPS 6: Patient-reported outcomes (LoE 3; LoA 7.73; Consensus 100%)…”