Attitudes to Technology supported Rheumatoid Arthritis care in patients and clinicians (AtTra)

[IRAS project No. 264690]

Status: Closed

The primary objective of this research was to study the main opportunities and challenges to technology supported RA care for patients and clinicians. Moreover, we aimed to answer the following questions:

1. Do the perceived opportunities and challenges vary according to patient demographics e.g. disease activity, disease duration, patient age?
2. What are the challenges of living with Rheumatoid Arthritis? (This will include issues around everyday life, flares, pain, medication and appointments from a patient perspective.)
3. Do the perceived opportunities and challenges vary according to clinician demographics e.g. age, sub-speciality?
4. Are there significant differences in patient and clinician expectations for health technology assessed parameters?
5. Have the perceived opportunities and challenges changed since the rapid institution of remote care due to the Covid-19 pandemic?

This was a mixed methods study with four parallel arms: Patient questionnaire, Patient semi-structured interview; Clinician Questionnaire, Clinician semi-structured interview. Patients over the ago of 18 with a diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis and clinicians specialising in Rheumatology >1 year were eligible to participate. All patients will be recruited from the Rheumatology dept at Mile End Hospital. Clinicians were recruited electronically, via contacts of a Rheumatology Clinical Research Fellow, and various local and national Rheumatology e-mail lists.

The study closed in April 2021 and papers are currently being drafted for submission.

Supported by NIHR Barts Biomedical Research Centre

The protocol can be downloaded here: AtTRA Protocol V3.0 [PDF 687KB]