The teaching given by health professionals in hospitals, health centres or homes appears to be one of the most appropriate and effective forms to help the management of the RA. To optimize their teachings, Lacey et al developed the “Educational Needs Assessment Tool” (ENAT) in 2002.

This instrument is a self-assessment questionnaire covering seven areas – pain, movement, feelings, the arthritic process, treatments, self-help measures and self-controlled systems of support.

It was after contact with one of the investigative team at the University of Leeds that the possibility of developing a project to adapt and validate the ENAT for the Portuguese population.

Methodology

The study will have two phases. Initially, we translated, adapted and validated the ENAT. Secondly, we studied the educational needs of a sample of arthritics. The translation and adaptation of the ENAT for the Portuguese population contained the following steps:

- The translation of the ENAT to Portuguese by two English Bilinguals.

- Synthesis of the translations

- A translation of the synthesis back into English

- Evaluation by specialists – paying attention to cultural aspects

- Fieldwork – applying the instrument to a sample of individuals

- Revalidation of the ENAT translation by a Rash analysis.

The fieldwork of the adapted ENAT necessitated the completion of the questionnaire by 125 patients with RA.

Anticipated Results

Following the collection of data and its statistical Rasch analysis, we hope to present results that:

- Confirm the integrity and validity of the ENAT.

- Show the principal educational needs of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

References

- LACEY A, HARDWARE BM, SHEWAN J (2002) - Evaluation of a tool to identify educational needs of patients with arthritis. Rheumatology 4(sup.1):p87