Impacto da educação na saúde de pacientes com artrite reumatoide: estudo piloto

Abstract

Background: Educational groups of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have good acceptance, but controversial benefits for its treatment. This study aims to evaluate quality of life and pain in RA patient attending education groups. Methods: Pilot clinical intervention study of educational groups including 15 RA patients. Twelve weekly appointments lasting two hours each were held. They addressed educational actions on the disease treatment, joint protection and energy conservation measures, occupational therapeutic activities and workshops on sharing experiences. The pain visual analogue scale (VAS-pain) and the 5 domain-three-dimensional descriptive system of EuroQol (EQ-5D-3L) and its visual analogue scale (EQ-VAS) were applied to assess pain and quality of life. Results: Fourteen (93%) patients were female, with a mean age of 61,27 years, mean disease time of 19,93 years. Thirteen (87%) of them had hand joint deformities due to RA. There was a significant improvement in the personal care domain of the EQ-5D-3L (P= 0,046) and a tendency to pain reduction (VAS-pain) and improvement of quality of life (EQ-5D-3L and EQVAS index), without statistical significance (P>0.05). Conclusion: Despite the evaluation of few RA patients, the improvement of patients’ personal care, pain self-perception and quality of life suggests that there was a positive impact of education, occupational therapy interventions and sharing experiences among patients with RA.