Exploring patient’s experience and unmet needs on pregnancy and family planning in rare and complex connective tissue diseases: a narrative medicine approach

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this work is to explore patient’ unmet needs of rare and complex rheumatic tissue diseases (rCTDs) patients during pregnancy and its planning by means of the narrative-based medicine (NBM) approach. METHODS: A panel of nine rCTDs patients’ representatives was identified to codesign a survey aimed at collecting the stories of rCTD patients who had one or more pregnancies/miscarriages. The results of the survey and the stories collected were analysed and discussed with a panel of patients’ representatives to identify unmet needs, challenges and possible strategies to improve the care of rCTD patients. RESULTS: 129 replies were collected, and 112 stories were analysed. Several unmet needs in the management of pregnancy in rCTDs were identified, such as fragmentation of care among different centres, lack of education and awareness on rCTD pregnancies among midwifes, obstetricians and gynaecologists. The lack of receiving appropriate information and education on rCTDs pregnancy was also highlighted by patients and their families. The need for a holistic approach and the availability specialised pregnancy clinics with a multidisciplinary organisation as well as the provision of psychological support during all the phases around pregnancy was considered also a priority. CONCLUSION: The adoption of the NBM approach enabled a direct identification of unmet needs, and a list of possible actions was elaborated to improve the care of rCTD patients and their families in future initiatives.