Support Program Boosts Health in Juvenile Arthritis Patients

TOPLINE:

Children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) who participated in a Juvenile Arthritis Support Program reported higher satisfaction with care and better overall health after 12 months than those who received standard care, highlighting the importance of patient- and family-centered care in managing the condition.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers evaluated the effectiveness of a Juvenile Arthritis Support Program in 56 children with JIA (median age at diagnosis, 10 years; 64.3% girls) and their parents.
• The support program included seven patient- and family-centered clinical visits from the time of diagnosis to 1 year after diagnosis.
• To explore the experience of participants with the care they received, all children and parents were required to answer a study-specific questionnaire that included 16 questions focusing on the following domains: Information, communication, participation, and emotional support.
• A control group of 26 children with JIA who received standard care were invited to answer the same study-specific questionnaire so that the differences in care experiences could be identified.

TAKEAWAY:

• At 12 months, children in the support group had better overall health than those in the control group (mean score, 4.33 vs 3.68; P = .002).
• The impact of disease on the daily life of a child was lower for participants in the support group than for those in the control group (P = .017).
• Children and parents who completed the support program also reported higher levels of satisfaction with the care they received than those in the control group.
• Parents in the support group received more information and emotional support than those in the control group and assessed their child’s health to be better.

IN PRACTICE:

“Implementing a comprehensive support program for children recently diagnosed with JIA is beneficial to address their physical, emotional, and psychosocial well-being,” the authors wrote. 

SOURCE:

This study was led by Karina Mördrup, Astrid Lindgren Children’s Hospital, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden, and was published online on August 15, 2024, in BMC Rheumatology.

LIMITATIONS:

The COVID-19 pandemic may have had an unknown effect on the experiences and responses of the participants. Moreover, the study-specific questionnaire had some unclear questions that may have affected the responses. Also, it would have been insightful to include data on the child’s age, gender, and diagnosis in the study questionnaire to explore potential variations in responses based on these factors.

DISCLOSURES:

This study was supported by the Swedish Rheumatic Foundation, the Childcare Association, Crown Princess Lovisa’s Foundation, and other sources. The authors declared no competing interests.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.