Dataset Information

Factors of importance for reducing fatigue in persons with rheumatoid arthritis: a qualitative interview study.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Physical activity plays an important role in the treatment of persons with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and is the non-pharmacological intervention with the strongest evidence to reduce fatigue. However, physical activity can be challenging for persons who are fatigued. The aim of this study was to investigate factors of importance for reducing fatigue in persons with RA.

Design

This is a qualitative interview study based on semistructured, indepth individual interviews. Interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis.

Participants

Participants were 12 people with RA recruited from a previous randomised controlled trial of a person-centred treatment model focusing on health-enhancing physical activity and daily balance to lessen fatigue in persons with RA.

Setting

Interviews were conducted in a hospital setting.

Results

The analysis resulted in one theme: an intellectual and embodied understanding that sustainable physical activity is important to handle fatigue. This included five categories describing barriers and facilitating factors for sustainable physical activity: mentally overcoming the fatigue in order to be active, making exercise easy, reaching for balance, receiving support to be physically active and dealing with RA disease to be physically active.

Conclusion

The participants in this study expressed that physical activity was important in handling fatigue, but also that this insight could only come from personal experience. The use of a person-centred ethic in physiotherapy coaching for patients with fatigue appears to promote sustainable physical activity behaviours by facilitating patients' resources to overcome barriers to physical activity.

SUBMITTER: Feldthusen C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6549655 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Factors of importance for reducing fatigue in persons with rheumatoid arthritis: a qualitative interview study.

Feldthusen Caroline C Mannerkorpi Kaisa K

BMJ open 20190529 5

<h4>Objective</h4>Physical activity plays an important role in the treatment of persons with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and is the non-pharmacological intervention with the strongest evidence to reduce fatigue. However, physical activity can be challenging for persons who are fatigued. The aim of this study was to investigate factors of importance for reducing fatigue in persons with RA.<h4>Design</h4>This is a qualitative interview study based on semistructured, indepth individual interviews. In ...[more]

PMID: 31147369

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Project description:ObjectivesOver the last few decades, there have been significant improvements in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), with the development of new treatments and guidelines for teamwork and patient self-care and access to digital tools. This study aimed to explore the experiences of individuals with RA interacting with healthcare. It also looked at how a self-care application, an educational programme called the 'healthcare encounter', improved patient-doctor communication.DesignSemistructured interviews were conducted, and qualitative content analysis was performed.SettingThe potential participants, individuals with established, or under investigation for, RA diagnosis at rheumatology clinics in Sweden, were asked to participate in the study via a digital self-care application called the Elsa Science Self-care app.ParticipantsTen interviews were performed with participants from nine clinics following a meeting with the rheumatologist or other healthcare personnel between September 2022 and October 2022. Phrases, sentences or paragraphs referring to experiences from healthcare meetings and opinions about the digital programme were identified and coded. Codes that reflected similar concepts were grouped; subcategories were formulated, and categories were connected to their experiences and opinions.ResultsAmong our participants, three main categories emerged: the availability of healthcare, individual efforts to have a healthier life and personal interaction with healthcare. Participants described that the 'healthcare encounter' educational programme can be a source of information, which confirms, supports and creates a sense of control.ConclusionThe participants valued being seen and taking part in a dialogue when they had prepared themselves (observed symptoms over time and prepared questions). The implementation of digital self-care applications might need to be incorporated into the healthcare setting, so that both the patients and the healthcare personnel have a shared understanding. Collaboration is essential in this context.

Project description:BackgroundDespite improvements in treatment for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and spondyloarthritis (axSpA), several key unmet needs remain, such as fatigue. The objective of this study was to describe the severity of fatigue, disease characteristics and socioeconomic factors in people with RA, PsA and axSpA.MethodsThe study was designed as a cross-sectional survey collecting patient characteristics such as disease characteristics, socioeconomic factors and fatigue in people with RA, PsA and axSpA in Denmark. Respondents were consecutively recruited for the study over a six-month period in 2018 via routine visits to outpatient rheumatology clinics. Study nurses collected information on diagnosis, current disease-related treatment and disease activity from medical journals. People were invited to complete a questionnaire related to socioeconomic factors and containing the FACIT-Fatigue subscale. Descriptive statistics were analyzed using SAS.ResultsWe invited 633 people to participate, and 488 (77%) completed the questionnaire. Women constituted 62% of respondents, and the mean age was 53.5 years. Respondents had on average been diagnosed between 11 and 15 years ago. Overall, 79% had no changes to their disease-related treatment during the past year, and the average disease activity as indicated by DAS28 for RA and PsA was 2.48 and 2.36, respectively, and BASDAI for axSpA was 28.40. Fatigue was present in all three diagnoses (mean: 34.31). The mean fatigue score varied from respondents answering that they suffered from no or little fatigue (mean: 45.48) to extreme fatigue (mean: 10.11). Analyses demonstrated that the respondents were not considerably different from nonrespondents, and the study population is considered representative compared with Danish RA and axSpA patients in the Danish National Rheumatology Registry, the DANBIO database.ConclusionWe found that the majority of the study population were fatigued (61%). They had low disease activity and few disease-related treatment changes.

Dataset Information

Factors of importance for reducing fatigue in persons with rheumatoid arthritis: a qualitative interview study.

Objective

Design

Participants

Setting

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Factors of importance for reducing fatigue in persons with rheumatoid arthritis: a qualitative interview study.

Similar Datasets

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