RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 A Qualitative Investigation of the Barriers to Help-seeking Among Members of the Public Presented with Symptoms of New-onset Rheumatoid Arthritis
JF The Journal of Rheumatology
JO J Rheumatol
FD The Journal of Rheumatology
SP jrheum.140913
DO 10.3899/jrheum.140913
A1 Gwenda Simons
A1 Christian David  Mallen
A1 Kanta Kumar
A1 Rebecca Jayne  Stack
A1 Karim Raza
YR 2015
UL http://www.jrheum.org/content/early/2015/01/27/jrheum.140913.abstract
AB Objective Treating patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) within 3 months of symptom onset leads to significantly improved clinical outcomes. However, many people with RA symptoms wait a long time before seeking medical attention. To develop effective health interventions to encourage people to seek help early, it is important to understand what the general public knows about RA, how they would react to the symptoms of RA, and what might delay help-seeking. Methods Qualitative interviews were conducted with 38 members of the general public (32 women) without any form of inflammatory arthritis about their perceptions of RA symptoms and decisions to seek help were they to experience such symptoms. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using thematic analysis. Results A number of barriers and drivers to help-seeking were identified and grouped into 5 themes: perceived causes of symptoms; factors related to presentation, location, and experience of symptoms; perceived effect of symptoms on daily life; self-management of symptoms; and general practitioner-related drivers and barriers. Conclusion To our knowledge, our study is the first to investigate barriers to and drivers of help-seeking in response to the onset of RA symptoms in individuals without a diagnosis of RA. It has revealed a number of additional factors (e.g., the importance of the location of the symptoms) besides those previously identified in retrospective studies of patients with RA. Together with the data from previous research, these findings will help inform future health interventions aimed at increasing knowledge of RA and encouraging help-seeking.