Effect of Education on Disease Management to Women With Rheumatoid Arthritis on the Quality of Life and Levels of Anxiety and Depression

Study design and participants This pretest and posttest prospective study was conducted as randomized controlled between February 2019 and October 2019 in the outpatient and inpatient clinics of the Department of Rheumatology of a university hospital in Edirne, Turkey.

Two study groups, control (n = 40) and intervention (n = 40) were randomized controlled groups with 80% power analysis and 95% confidence interval. A single-blind technique was used to eliminate any bias. The patients were not informed of the group to which they belonged. The patients were selected using a simple random sampling method and divided into intervention and control groups using the Research Randomizer program. In the intervention group, 40 women with RA were interviewed at baseline (first interview). In the 3rd month (last interview), eight patients were excluded for the following reasons: four did not wish to continue the study, three could not be reached, and one patient did not complete the forms. Therefore, 32 women with RA were finally included in the intervention group. In the control group, 40 patients were interviewed at baseline. In the 3rd month (last interview), seven patients were excluded for the following reasons: four patients did not wish to continue the study and three patients could not be reached. Therefore, 34 women with RA were finally included in the control group. The study included a total of 66 women with RA, including intervention (n= 32) and control (n= 34) groups. Flow chart of data collection for women with RA is presented Figure 1.

Data collection tools Data were collected by The Patient Information Form, Rheumatoid Arthritis Quality of Life Scale, the Health Assessment Questionnaire, and the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale.

Patient Information Form: Our study was developed by researchers in line with a literature review on the subject. (Bozbas & Gurer, 2018; Fall et al., 2013; Moghadam et al., 2018; Neto et al., 2009). The form consisted of eight questions about sociodemographic characteristics (age, marital status, education, etc.), clinical diagnosis, treatment of RA, concomitant chronic disease, and deformity affected by arthritis.

Rheumatoid Arthritis Patient Education Booklet: The content of the booklet was prepared by researchers in line with the literature. (arthritis.org; Moghadam et al., 2018; nras.org.uk; Rahim & Cheng, 2018). The education topics included description, symptoms, and signs of RA, diagnostic methods, treatment choices, information on medications, RA in pregnancy, disease management information, nutritional recommendations, emotional health, and support in daily living.