Background/Purpose: People with chronic conditions face the disease more effectively when they develop psychosocial skills and self-care. Health authorities thus recommend the organization of therapeutic patient education (TPE). Suffering from different limitations, a patient organisation had the idea to develop a digital training solution, accessible everywhere, complementary to TPE, for patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Methods: The choice was made for an online training program such as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC). A preliminary survey was carried out among the patients via an electronic questionnaire via social networks and an emailing to the organisation members.

A steering committee (COPIL) made up of representatives of the patients’ association, expert patients and rheumatologists with the support of a specialized agency, determined the timetable, the educational objectives, the contents, the speakers and the evaluations.

Results: The initial investigation was stopped at 100 responses, obtained in 3 days.

The majority of respondents planned to follow the MOOC on their computer (85.9%), but to meet the needs of all, the device is responsive.

More than half of respondents (61%) had never participated in a TPE program and 94% were interested in joining MOOC to learn new information about the disease (78.8%), treatments (71.7% ), have expert views (67.7%), share experience with other patients (56.6%), and better live with the disease (50.5%).

Respondents would like to have a weekly webconference lasting from 1 hour to 1h30.

About the MOOC :

• Using the Learning Management System platform drspoc.com

• Intervention of the experts via videos and live courses, evaluation of the achievements and, during two annual sessions, tutoring by patients trained specifically.

At the beginning and end of the session, learners are invited to answer different questionnaires (knowledge, skills, satisfaction).

The MOOC includes the following modules:

• Introduction and background on MOOC

• Understanding Rheumatoid Arthritis

• Explore the care pathway, current events and treatment prospects

• Everyday life with rheumatoid arthritis

• Manage pain and fatigue.

COPIL identified 15 experts (patient-experts, rheumatologists, occupational therapist, physiotherapist, nutritionist, social worker, psychologist, sexologist, nurse) who wrote the content of their speech. All texts have been validated by a pedagogical engineer and the director of the association.

215 people pre-registered during the month preceding the launch, 148 persons active during the first session.

41 responses reccorded to the voluntary assessment questionnaire.

Conclusion: This is the first digital training strategy for people with rheumatoid arthritis.

This project proved to be useful to patients, offering an alternative or complement to TPE.

It will be necessary to evaluate the impact of this MOOC on the quality of life of the patients and their perception on its usefulness after several sessions. An update is planned according to patient feedback and possible changes in content.

« Back to 2017 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting

ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/creation-of-the-first-massive-open-online-course-for-patients-with-rheumatoid-arthritis/