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Saturday, 16 November 2013
Learning Objective 1: Understand the needs of patients with chronic arthritis.
Learning Objective 2: Differentiate the needs of individuals who are Spanish speakers and suffer from chronic illness like arthritis versus the English speakers.
Introduction: The purpose of this study was to identify low income individuals’ experiences living with arthritis and based on those experiences develop a self-care management program for low income Spanish-speaking and English-speaking adults living with arthritis ( RA). Methods: conducting semi-structured individual interviews. The focus of the interviews was to identify self-care management practices that would be beneficial to low-income adults living with arthritis. 18 individuals were interviewed (1/2 Spanish-speaking, 1/2 English-speaking) 6 were Spanish speaking and 12 were English speaking in this study. Utilizing line by line coding and content analysis major themes were identified. Findings: a) Physical symptoms associated with arthritis b) coping mechanisms to manage daily life c) a concept of self as it relates to the disease d) reliance on a support system. Conclusion- physical symptoms –both groups identified symptoms of pain and fatigue associated with arthritis, both groups described how the symptoms affected their work, personal relationships, and they both talked about the things they had to give up [hobbies, social activities, family time]; coping- both identified use of medications and home remedies to alleviate their pain and in addition modified activity levels based upon their symptoms