In a changing health care environment, the role of patients in managing their arthritis is increasingly important. Patient education is the primary means for teaching patients how to fulfill this role successfully. The goal of self-management health education is not merely to provide information, but to change subject attitudes and behavior so that patient outcomes are improved. These programs represent a new treatment for arthritis. Arthritis Self-Management Programs are a proven effective intervention, but are limited by the logistics of providing a sufficient number of face-to-face interventions at a sufficient number of sites. This project will evaluate the relative effect on health status and cost- effectiveness of two arthritis patient education programs which utilize different delivery systems. The Arthritis Self-Management Program (ASMP) utilizes a small group, multi-class format. It is taught by trained lay leaders and has been evaluated for effectiveness and has been widely disseminated. The Self-Managed Arthritis Relief Therapy (SMART) Program is a computer-driven, individualized, mail-delivered intervention. Based on pilot study, it is effective in improving health status and reducing health care utilization. In addition, the project will evaluate the generalizability of the SMART program as well as its effectiveness for patients with different diagnoses (OA and RA). It will also determine the attributes of patients who choose and do not choose to participate in patient education programs as well as the attributes of those who complete and do not complete the ASMP and SMART Programs. Through utilization of the ARAMIS data collection system, the project allows us to describe the differences between patients who volunteer to receive patient education and those who refuse patient education. This project is directed at improving patient outcomes in both RA and OA through wide availability of a low-cost, mail-delivered Arthritis Self- Management Program; the next generation in arthritis health education.
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