Experiences of self‐care during the COVID‐19 pandemic among individuals with rheumatoid arthritis: A qualitative study
Experiences of self‐care during the COVID‐19 pandemic among individuals with rheumatoid arthritis: A qualitative study
Objectives: This study aimed to explore the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on self-care of individuals living with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods: Guided by a constructivist, qualitative design, we conducted one-to-one in-depth telephone interviews between March and October 2020 with participants with RA purposively sampled for maximum variation in age, sex and education, who were participating in one of two ongoing randomized-controlled trials. An inductive, reflexive thematic analysis approach was used. Results: Twenty-six participants (aged 27–73 years; 23 females) in British Columbia, Canada were interviewed. We identified three themes: (1) Adapting to maintain self-care describes how participants took measures to continue self-care activities while preventing virus transmissions. While spending more time at home, some participants reported improved self-care. (2) Managing emotions describes resilience-building strategies such as keeping perspective, positive reframing and avoiding negative thoughts. Participants described both letting go and maintaining a sense of control to accommodate difficulties and emotional responses. (3) Changing communication with health professionals outlined positive experiences of remote consultations with health professionals, particularly if good relationships had been established prepandemic. Conclusion: The insights gained may inform clinicians and researchers on ways to support the self-care strategies of individuals with RA and other chronic illnesses during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings reveal opportunities to further examine remote consultations to optimize patient engagement and care. Patient or Public Contribution: This project is jointly designed and conducted with patient partners in British Columbia, Canada. Patient partners across the United Kingdom also played in a key role in providing interpretations of themes during data analysis.
COVID-19, coping, patient and public involvement, rheumatoid arthritis, self-management
482-498
Leese, Jenny
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Backman, Catherine L.
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Ma, Jasmin K.
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Koehn, Cheryl
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Hoens, Alison M.
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English, Kelly
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Davidson, Eileen
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Mcquitty, Shanon
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Gavin, James
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Adams, Jo
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Therrien, Stephanie
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Li, Linda C.
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Leese, Jenny
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Backman, Catherine L.
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Ma, Jasmin K.
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Koehn, Cheryl
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Hoens, Alison M.
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English, Kelly
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Davidson, Eileen
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Mcquitty, Shanon
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Gavin, James
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Adams, Jo
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Therrien, Stephanie
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Li, Linda C.
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Leese, Jenny, Backman, Catherine L., Ma, Jasmin K., Koehn, Cheryl, Hoens, Alison M., English, Kelly, Davidson, Eileen, Mcquitty, Shanon, Gavin, James, Adams, Jo, Therrien, Stephanie and Li, Linda C.
(2021)
Experiences of self‐care during the COVID‐19 pandemic among individuals with rheumatoid arthritis: A qualitative study.
Health Expectations, 25 (2), .
(doi:10.1111/hex.13341).
Abstract
Objectives: This study aimed to explore the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on self-care of individuals living with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods: Guided by a constructivist, qualitative design, we conducted one-to-one in-depth telephone interviews between March and October 2020 with participants with RA purposively sampled for maximum variation in age, sex and education, who were participating in one of two ongoing randomized-controlled trials. An inductive, reflexive thematic analysis approach was used. Results: Twenty-six participants (aged 27–73 years; 23 females) in British Columbia, Canada were interviewed. We identified three themes: (1) Adapting to maintain self-care describes how participants took measures to continue self-care activities while preventing virus transmissions. While spending more time at home, some participants reported improved self-care. (2) Managing emotions describes resilience-building strategies such as keeping perspective, positive reframing and avoiding negative thoughts. Participants described both letting go and maintaining a sense of control to accommodate difficulties and emotional responses. (3) Changing communication with health professionals outlined positive experiences of remote consultations with health professionals, particularly if good relationships had been established prepandemic. Conclusion: The insights gained may inform clinicians and researchers on ways to support the self-care strategies of individuals with RA and other chronic illnesses during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings reveal opportunities to further examine remote consultations to optimize patient engagement and care. Patient or Public Contribution: This project is jointly designed and conducted with patient partners in British Columbia, Canada. Patient partners across the United Kingdom also played in a key role in providing interpretations of themes during data analysis.
Text
Experiences of self‐care during the COVID‐19 pandemic among individuals with rheumatoid arthritis
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 21 July 2021
e-pub ahead of print date: 17 August 2021
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
The authors specially thank all of the participants and UK patient partners, including representatives from Versus Arthritis, who shared their time, experiences and insights for the purposes of this qualitative study. This study was supported by the Arthritis Society (Funding Reference Number: SOG‐16‐391). Jenny Leese is supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Doctoral Research Award. Jasmin Ma is supported by postdoctoral fellowship awards from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR) and the Arthritis Society. Linda Li holds the Harold Robinson/Arthritis Society Chair in Arthritic Diseases, and is supported by the Canada Research Chair Program, and the MSFHR Scholar Award.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors. Health Expectations published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Keywords:
COVID-19, coping, patient and public involvement, rheumatoid arthritis, self-management
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 482236
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/482236
ISSN: 1369-6513
PURE UUID: d825b952-5684-43aa-b907-abfebd7e0b86
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Date deposited: 21 Sep 2023 16:58
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:55
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Contributors
Author:
Jenny Leese
Author:
Catherine L. Backman
Author:
Jasmin K. Ma
Author:
Cheryl Koehn
Author:
Alison M. Hoens
Author:
Kelly English
Author:
Eileen Davidson
Author:
Shanon Mcquitty
Author:
Stephanie Therrien
Author:
Linda C. Li
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