A Qualitative Investigation of the Experiences of Participants Undertaking a CycLing and EducATional (CLEAT) Programme for the Treatment of Hip Osteoarthritis.

As the United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS) waiting list soars above seven million people, with treatment wait times over two years, older people with chronic conditions face worsening symptoms, increased use of medications, more complicated surgeries with slower recovery, reduced quality of life, and loss of independence. As part of its plans to tackle this crisis, the NHS promotes exercise as a "miracle cure" for arresting the progress of disease and helping disease management and recovery. However, current plans promoting individual, home-based exercise, as well as on-site hospital-based programs of delivery, have met with only limited success, and face problems of decreased space, capacity, clinician time, as well as lack of knowledge and expertise with regard to effective behavior change. We have developed a community-based group exercise programme for older people with hip osteoarthritis. This community-based group exercise programme has successfully helped those with hip osteoarthritis (3.5 million over 45s in the UK) reduce pain and need for medication, as well as avoiding surgery, and has formed part of an NIHR trial examining the use of exercise and education versus standard physiotherapy care for the treatment of hip osteoarthritis. In order to better understand the mechanisms of action of this programme, the present study will examine, via focus groups interviews, the experiences of participants who have undertaken the exercise and education programme. The data generated from the focus groups will help to elucidate what "works" within the programme and will help inform future development of resources to support health professionals in providing exercise rehabilitation for older people with chronic conditions.