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- Van der Elst, Kristien, et al.
(författare)
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European Qualitative Research Project on Patient-preferred Outcomes in Early Rheumatoid Arthritis (EQPERA) : Rationale, Design and Methods of a Multi-country, Multi-center, Multi-language, Longitudinal Qualitative Study
- 2017
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Ingår i: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. - London : BMJ Publishing Group Ltd. - 0003-4967 .- 1468-2060. ; 76:Suppl. 2, s. 1488-1489
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Ample studies exist on outcome assessment from the patient perspective in Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), but little is known about health and treatment preferences of recently diagnosed patients, and how these evolve over time. A Belgian qualitative study has set the scene (1), but knowledge on cross-cultural nuances in patient-preferred outcomes is lacking. To this end, EQPERA – European Qualitative research collaboration on Patient-preferred outcomes in Early Rheumatoid Arthritis– was founded.Objectives: EQPERA aims to unravel longitudinally preferences for treatment and health outcomes among patients with early RA across Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden. To yield sound results, specific preparations for this cross-country qualitative study are reported here.Methods: Several steps have been undertaken to ensure trustworthiness of findings and consistency across countries in sampling, interviewing, analysis and project management: a detailed research protocol has been written; the interview guides have been translated following a structured forward-backward linguistic validation process; templates for data collection and a quality assurance reporting tool have been developed; and local staff has been trained and supervised by the project leader in implementing the study protocol. Each country will document changes with sufficient detail in their research logbook.Results: EQPERA will be a qualitative, explorative, longitudinal study with active involvement of patient researchers. In each country, a purposive sample of patients with early RA will be individually interviewed 3–6 months after start of the initial RA treatment and subsequently, the same participants will be invited back to take part in a focus group 12–18 months after RA treatment initiation. Data collection and analysis will be independently conducted by the local research teams in their native language. The local teams will analyze their interview data using the constant comparison method as detailed in Qualitative analysis guide of Leuven, after which Saldana's guiding questions will be adopted for analyzing change over time. Afterwards, a meta-synthesis of all locally gathered and interpreted data will be conducted to explore and describe patterns, similarities and differences across countries.Conclusions: This European project is a first step in gathering contextual findings on patient-preferred outcomes in early RA. Such knowledge is of crucial importance for tailoring therapeutic approaches in a timely and meaningful way. Our innovative, qualitative, longitudinal research design goes beyond the abilities of the frequently used cross-sectional designs in qualitative research. Large, multi-national qualitative projects are scarce in rheumatology research, thus applied data management and quality assurance strategies could be of interest to other researchers. © 2017, BMJ Publishing Group Limited
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| 2. |
- Van der Elst, Kristien, et al.
(författare)
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European Qualitative Research Project on Patient-preferred Outcomes in Early Rheumatoid Arthritis (EQPERA) : Rationale, Design and Methods of a Multi-country, Multi-center, Multi-language, Longitudinal Qualitative Study
- 2017
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Ingår i: European Congress of Qualitative Inquiry. ; , s. 117-117
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: A successful medical outcome is no guarantee for patient perception of treatment success. Unraveling the patient’s perspective on outcome preferences is therefore crucial to deliver patient-centered, high-quality chronic illness care. Furthermore, the earliest stage of a chronic disease, such as in Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), can be considered as a critical phase in the patient pathway for achieving optimal long-term outcomes. A Belgian qualitative study provided a first glimpse on what matters most to patients with recently diagnosed RA (1). However, there was a need for an international data set to better understand this complex phenomenon being studied, and to investigate whether the Belgian findings could be transferred to contexts with different national healthcare systems, practices and values. To this end, EQPERA –European Qualitative research collaboration on Patient-preferred outcomes in Early Rheumatoid Arthritis– was founded.Objectives: The overall research objective of EQPERA is to unravel longitudinally preferences for treatment and health outcomes among patients with early RA across Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway, placing findings in a context broader than Belgium. Furthermore, EQPERA aims to add to qualitative methodology research.Methods: EQPERA applies a qualitative, explorative, longitudinal research design, which was developed in collaboration with patient research partners and the patient perspective in mind. In each country, a purposive sample of patients with early RA will be individually interviewed between 3-6 months after start of the initial RA treatment and subsequently, the same participants will be invited to take part in a focus group about 1 year after RA treatment initiation. Interviews will be analyzed using the constant comparison method as described in Qualitative Analysis Guide of Leuven. The longitudinal analysis will be guided by Saldaña’s steps for analyzing change through time in longitudinal qualitative research. To study the multinational findings, we will carry out a meta-synthesis of all locally gathered and interpreted data. The local research teams will independently employ a qualitative study, while the project leader will monitor the research as it unfolds and evolves. Moreover, to support consistency in data collection and the inter-coder reliability across countries, we will implement a detailed research protocol, a structured cultural translation and validation process of the interview guides, data collection templates, a quality assurance reporting tool and specific training sessions.Added value: Our innovative, qualitative, longitudinal research design goes beyond the abilities of the frequently used cross-sectional designs in qualitative research. A European research context allows to uncover subtle cultural differences in patient-preferred outcomes across more or less similar organized countries. This project is thus a first step in gathering widely applicable findings in a research area where evidence-based knowledge is lacking, yet, highly needed to tailor care processes and optimize patient outcomes. Various data management strategies are applied to ensure quality and trustworthiness of our findings, and to promote a smooth European collaboration.
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| 3. |
- Van der Elst, Kristien, et al.
(författare)
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European Qualitative research project on Patient-preferred outcomes in Early Rheumatoid Arthritis (EQPERA) : rationale, design and methods of a multinational, multicentre, multilingual, longitudinal qualitative study
- 2019
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Ingår i: BMJ Open. - London, UK : BMJ Publishing Group Ltd. - 2044-6055. ; 9:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- INTRODUCTION: Including the patient perspective is important to achieve optimal outcomes in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Ample qualitative studies exist on patient outcomes in RA. A Belgian study recently unravelled what matters most to patients throughout the overwhelming and rapidly evolving early stage of RA. The present study, European Qualitative research project on Patient-preferred outcomes in Early Rheumatoid Arthritis (EQPERA) was created to contribute to a more universal understanding of patient-preferred health and treatment outcomes by integrating the perspectives of patients with early RA from three European countries.METHODS AND ANALYSIS: In EQPERA, a qualitative, explorative, longitudinal study will be implemented in The Netherlands and Sweden, parallel to the methods applied in the previously conducted Belgian study. In each country, a purposive sample of patients with early RA will be individually interviewed 3-6 months after start of the initial RA treatment and subsequently, the same participants will be invited to take part in a focus group 12-18 months after RA treatment initiation. Data collection and analysis will be independently conducted by the local research teams in their native language. A meta-analysis of the local findings will be performed to explore and describe similarities, differences and patterns across countries.ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethics approval was granted by the responsible local ethics committees. EQPERA follows the recommendations of the Declaration of Helsinki. Two main papers are foreseen (apart from the data reporting on the local findings) for peer-reviewed publication.© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019.
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| 4. |
- Van der Elst, Kristien, et al.
(författare)
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What do patients prefer? A multinational, longitudinal, qualitative study on patient-preferred treatment outcomes in early rheumatoid arthritis
- 2020
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Ingår i: RMD Open. - London : BMJ Publishing Group Ltd. - 2056-5933. ; 6:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- OBJECTIVES: To explore treatment outcomes preferred by patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and how these change throughout the early disease stage across three European countries.METHODS: A longitudinal, qualitative, multicentre study was conducted in Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden. 80 patients with early RA were individually interviewed 3-9 months after treatment initiation and 51 of them participated again in either a focus group or an individual interview 12-21 months after treatment initiation. Data were first analysed by country, following the Qualitative Analysis Guide of Leuven (QUAGOL). Thereafter, a meta-synthesis, inspired by the principles of meta-ethnography and the QUAGOL, was performed, involving the local research teams.RESULTS: The meta-synthesis revealed 11 subthemes from which four main themes were identified: disease control, physical performance, self-accomplishment and well-being. 'A normal life despite RA' was an overarching patient-preferred outcome across countries. Belgian, Dutch and Swedish patients showed many similarities in terms of which outcomes they preferred throughout the early stage of RA. Some outcome preferences (eg, relief of fatigue and no side effects) developed differently over time across countries.CONCLUSIONS: This study on patient-preferred outcomes in early RA revealed that patients essentially want to live a normal life despite RA. Our findings help to understand what really matters to patients and provide specific insights into the early stage of RA, which should be addressed by clinicians of different disciplines from the start of treatment onwards. © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020.
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