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From: "Howard, Janet (NIAMS)" <howardj@od.niams.nih.gov>
To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-health@literacy.nifl.gov>
Subject: [NIFL-HEALTH:2662] RE: peer educators
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An article about arthritis patient educators appeared in the Vol. 12, No. 6,
December 1999 issue of Arthritis Care and Research.
http://www.arthritiscareres.org/
Positive Impact of an Intervention by Arthritis Patient Educators on
Knowledge and Satisfaction of Patients in a Rheumatology Practice
Valerie Klusas Branch, Katherine Lipsky, Theresa Nieman, and Peter E. Lipsky
In addition, I wrote a short article for the NIH Record, 4/4/2000, on the
findings. That article appears below
Arthritis Educators Score High with Patients
By Janet Howard
Arthritis educators can provide a meaningful boost to
traditional care for patients
with rheumatic diseases, according to a new study reported in
Arthritis Care and
Research. Teaching and support by trained educators has been
proven to have a
positive impact on the knowledge and satisfaction with
services for patients with
arthritis visiting rheumatology clinics.
"People with arthritis are often dissatisfied with their
care. We have shown that
arthritis patient educators can be a useful addition to
traditional rheumatology
care," said coauthor Dr. Peter Lipsky, NIAMS scientific
director. "We now know
for certain that patient education positively affects patient
knowledge, disease
management and satisfaction with clinic services."
In the study carried out at the University of Texas
Southwestern Medical Center in
Dallas, one group of patients with arthritis was randomly
assigned to an arthritis
patient educator as well as standard rheumatologic care. A
control group was
assigned to receive only the standard care. Both groups
completed standard
assessment tests.
The results showed that the patients who received the
intervention displayed more
overall knowledge about their disease than patients who did
not. Of this group,
88.5 percent rated the arthritis patient educators "good" or
"excellent;" 69 percent
found the educators helpful; and 58 percent requested further
interactions with the
educators. Test group patients were able to name more sources
of arthritis
information and self-help aids.
Because arthritis is the most costly, chronic and common
disease known, the goal
of arthritis management has been to minimize pain,
inflammation, disability and the
psychosocial changes associated with the disease. Currently,
arthritis affects over
40 million (15 percent) of the American population, and the
number is expected to
increase to nearly 20 percent (60 million) by 2020. It is the
leading cause of
disability in Americans over 65.
-----Original Message-----
From: pdmolinsky@netscape.net [mailto:pdmolinsky@netscape.net]
Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2000 12:57 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: [NIFL-HEALTH:2660] peer educators
I am interested in hearing from anyone, by e-mail, snail mail, or phone, who
has used peer educators in a clinical setting. Our health literacy project
is considering using peer educators to meet with patients after their visits
to discuss their self-care, follow-up, etc. instructions. We are especially
interested in learning about the training peer educators are receiving and
about what their job descriptions entail, any other information and/or
advice
would be most welcome.
Paula De Leon Molinsky
Health Literacy Program Coordinator
LifeLong Medical Care
P.O. Box 11247
Berkeley, CA 94712-2247
510-597-8010 ext 509
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