Peer to Peer Mentoring: Facilitating Individuals With Early Inflammatory Arthritis to Manage Their Arthritis - Peer Mentor Training

Inflammatory arthritis (IA) is a major cause of long-term disability. Peer support may be a solution to the common problem of delayed treatment. Early peer support may result in improved use of therapy, higher self-efficacy, reduced anxiety, and improved coping in the first two years post-diagnosis. This study involves the development and testing of a peer mentor training initiative as one part of an intervention study for people with early IA (EIA). Peer mentors will be trained and assessed to provide one-on-one support (information, emotional, feedback) to individuals who have recently been diagnosed with IA. This is one part of an intervention study. The other part is called Peer to Peer Mentoring: Facilitating Individuals with Early Inflammatory Arthritis to Manage their Arthritis - Peer Mentoring Program.

Completed

Looking for future studies?

Notify Me

Key information

Conditions

Early Inflammatory Arthritis Arthritis Chronic Disease Disease Attributes Joint Diseases Musculoskeletal Diseases Pathologic Processes Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

To become a peer mentor are:

Diagnosis of IA from a physician
Disease duration more than 2 years and managing well
Currently using medications (DMARDS/biologics) to treat arthritis
Have completed an Arthritis Self-Management Program (ASMP) provided by The Arthritis Society and/or similar program and/or have sufficient knowledge and experience with teaching or providing mentoring support to an individual living with a chronic disease
Able to participate in two approximately 5-hour training workshops
Able to take part in ongoing assessment/evaluation activities (self-report questionnaire, interviews, observation, study activity log)
Able to commit to the duration of the research study
Willing to provide ongoing one-on-one support to an individual newly diagnosed with IA
18 years of age or older
Able to speak, understand, read and write English

Exclusion criteria

Do not meet inclusion criteria

Treatment and study plan

peer mentor training

Behavioral

A quasi-experimental, before and after study design is proposed to obtain data for planning and implementing a larger-scale study. A training workshop for individuals with IA to become peer mentors will increase peer mentors' confidence and skills to provide one-on-one support to individuals with EIA. Using a combination of lectures, experiential learning and question/answer sessions, peer mentors will learn and practice informational, emotional, appraisal support techniques and skills (communication skills, problem-solving strategies, use of decision tools). Training will be conducted face-to-face, in small-group format by research team and others (2 sessions approx. 5 hours each), in a private meeting room at SHSC. Peer mentors will then provide support to individuals newly diagnosed with IA for 12 weeks (once per week) by telephone and /or face-to-face. Peer mentors will receive ongoing support from the research team (telephone, meetings).

Primary outcomes

ability to provide informational, appraisal and emotional support

Time frame: 0, 3, 6 months

Secondary outcomes

confidence to provide informational, appraisal and emotional support

Time frame: 0, 3, 6 months

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

Other

Collaborators

Canadian Arthritis Network

Registry information

Important dates

Study start: 2010
Primary completion: 2011
Study completion: 2011
First posted: Jan 22, 2010
Registry last updated: Dec 29, 2011

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

Published trials that share one or more normalized conditions with this study.

Completed