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A Q-methodology study of flare help-seeking behaviours and different experiences of daily life in rheumatoid arthritis
BACKGROUND: Previous studies have not addressed rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients’ help-seeking behaviours for RA flares, and only one small qualitative study has addressed how patients experience daily life on current treatment regimes. Thus, this study aims to identify clusters of opinion related...
Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
BioMed Central
2014
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4223853/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25361815 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2474-15-364 |
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author | Flurey, Caroline A Morris, Marianne Pollock, Jon Richards, Pamela Hughes, Rodney Hewlett, Sarah |
author_facet | Flurey, Caroline A Morris, Marianne Pollock, Jon Richards, Pamela Hughes, Rodney Hewlett, Sarah |
author_sort | Flurey, Caroline A |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Previous studies have not addressed rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients’ help-seeking behaviours for RA flares, and only one small qualitative study has addressed how patients experience daily life on current treatment regimes. Thus, this study aims to identify clusters of opinion related to RA patients’ experiences of daily life on current treatments, and their help-seeking behaviours for RA flares. METHODS: Using Q-methodology (a methodology using qualitative and quantitative methods to sort people according to subjective experience), two separate studies were conducted with the same sample of RA patients (mean age 55, 73% female). Thirty participants sorted 39 statements about daily life (Q-study 1) and 29 participants separately sorted 23 statements about flare help-seeking (Q-study 2). Data were examined using Q-factor analysis. RESULTS: Daily life with RA (Q-study 1): Three factors relating to the experience of living with RA were extracted and explained. Patients belonging to Factor A (mean age 62, 86% female) use effective self-management techniques to control the daily impact of RA. Those in Factor B (mean age 55, 75% male) struggle to self-manage and cope. Whilst patients in Factor C (mean age 42, 100% female) prioritise life responsibilities over their RA, reporting less impact. Flare help-seeking (Q-study 2): Two factors explaining the experience of flare help-seeking (unrelated to the factors from Q-study 1) were extracted and explained. Factor X (68.8% on biologics) reported seeking help quickly, believing the medical team is there to help. Factor Y (0% on biologics) delay help-seeking, concerned about wasting the rheumatologist’s time, believing they should manage alone. All participants agreed they sought help due to intense pain and persistent, unmanageable symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with different characteristics appear to manage RA life in different ways and men may struggle more than women. Whilst all patients are prompted to seek help by persistent, unmanageable symptoms, some delay help-seeking. Further research is needed to quantify the severity of daily symptoms, the level of symptoms needed for patients to define themselves as in flare and to understand the support needs of RA men. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2474-15-364) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4223853 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2014 |
publisher | BioMed Central |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-42238532014-11-08 A Q-methodology study of flare help-seeking behaviours and different experiences of daily life in rheumatoid arthritis Flurey, Caroline A Morris, Marianne Pollock, Jon Richards, Pamela Hughes, Rodney Hewlett, Sarah BMC Musculoskelet Disord Research Article BACKGROUND: Previous studies have not addressed rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients’ help-seeking behaviours for RA flares, and only one small qualitative study has addressed how patients experience daily life on current treatment regimes. Thus, this study aims to identify clusters of opinion related to RA patients’ experiences of daily life on current treatments, and their help-seeking behaviours for RA flares. METHODS: Using Q-methodology (a methodology using qualitative and quantitative methods to sort people according to subjective experience), two separate studies were conducted with the same sample of RA patients (mean age 55, 73% female). Thirty participants sorted 39 statements about daily life (Q-study 1) and 29 participants separately sorted 23 statements about flare help-seeking (Q-study 2). Data were examined using Q-factor analysis. RESULTS: Daily life with RA (Q-study 1): Three factors relating to the experience of living with RA were extracted and explained. Patients belonging to Factor A (mean age 62, 86% female) use effective self-management techniques to control the daily impact of RA. Those in Factor B (mean age 55, 75% male) struggle to self-manage and cope. Whilst patients in Factor C (mean age 42, 100% female) prioritise life responsibilities over their RA, reporting less impact. Flare help-seeking (Q-study 2): Two factors explaining the experience of flare help-seeking (unrelated to the factors from Q-study 1) were extracted and explained. Factor X (68.8% on biologics) reported seeking help quickly, believing the medical team is there to help. Factor Y (0% on biologics) delay help-seeking, concerned about wasting the rheumatologist’s time, believing they should manage alone. All participants agreed they sought help due to intense pain and persistent, unmanageable symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with different characteristics appear to manage RA life in different ways and men may struggle more than women. Whilst all patients are prompted to seek help by persistent, unmanageable symptoms, some delay help-seeking. Further research is needed to quantify the severity of daily symptoms, the level of symptoms needed for patients to define themselves as in flare and to understand the support needs of RA men. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2474-15-364) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. BioMed Central 2014-11-01 /pmc/articles/PMC4223853/ /pubmed/25361815 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2474-15-364 Text en © Flurey et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014 This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Flurey, Caroline A Morris, Marianne Pollock, Jon Richards, Pamela Hughes, Rodney Hewlett, Sarah A Q-methodology study of flare help-seeking behaviours and different experiences of daily life in rheumatoid arthritis |
title | A Q-methodology study of flare help-seeking behaviours and different experiences of daily life in rheumatoid arthritis |
title_full | A Q-methodology study of flare help-seeking behaviours and different experiences of daily life in rheumatoid arthritis |
title_fullStr | A Q-methodology study of flare help-seeking behaviours and different experiences of daily life in rheumatoid arthritis |
title_full_unstemmed | A Q-methodology study of flare help-seeking behaviours and different experiences of daily life in rheumatoid arthritis |
title_short | A Q-methodology study of flare help-seeking behaviours and different experiences of daily life in rheumatoid arthritis |
title_sort | q-methodology study of flare help-seeking behaviours and different experiences of daily life in rheumatoid arthritis |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4223853/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25361815 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2474-15-364 |
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