Background/Purpose: To evaluate the effect of a rheumatoid arthritis (RA) peer support program on fatigue, functional status (pain, SF-12 PCS), self-efficacy, emotional health (SF-12 MCS) and medication adherence (ASK-20).

Methods: RA patients enrolled at a tertiary hospital arthritis center were recommended for peer support (mentees) by their rheumatologist. Peer support mentors received a three hour training to learn how to help other patients with concerns, coping strategies and medical decision-making. Mentors contacted mentees by phone once a week for 6 months, with optional email. Mentees were compared with controls who were not receiving peer support. They were matched on disease duration (years), age (years), and gender. Both groups filled out questionnaires at baseline and six month follow-up, assessing VAS fatigue and pain, arthritis self-efficacy, functional status (SF-12 PCS), emotional health (SF-12 MCS), and medication adherence (ASK20). A linear regression model with and without adjustment for baseline outcome differences was used to assess outcomes at 6 months.

Results: 20 mentees and 22 controls completed the baseline and 6 month questionnaires. Only 2 participants dropped out of the program. There were no differences in baseline demographics or disease duration between groups. The mean age was 49.7 years (SD, 12.3), 88.1% were female, and the mean disease duration was 8.5 years (SD, 10.2). Mentees entered the study with worse pain, fatigue, health status, and self-efficacy, but with similar medication adherence scores compared to controls. In linear regression analyses, the mentees had a significant improvement in self-efficacy (p=0.01) and physical function (p=0.007) compared to controls (see Table 1) and physical function improvement persisted after adjusting for baseline clinical outcome differences (p=0.02).

Conclusion: This pilot study suggests that RA patients who have active disease and receive peer support show improvement in self-efficacy and physical function. Peer support programs may be effective in enhancing patients’ coping skills. Further analyses on a larger number of participants are needed to demonstrate the impact of the program on patient self-reported outcomes of fatigue, pain and medical adherence.

	Mentees (N=19)*	Controls (N=22)	P-Value	P-Value†
	Change (SD)	Change (SD)
VAS Pain (0-100)	-9.7 (33.1)	1.4 (36.0)	0.31	0.86
VAS Fatigue (0-100)	-9.2 (34.3)	4.3 (27.1)	0.17	0.59
Arthritis Self-Efficacy	13.1 (21.0)	-3.6 (10.6)	0.01	0.72
SF-12 (MCS)	3.4 (9.2)	1.7 (8.8)	0.61	0.29
SF-12 (PCS)	5.8 (7.7)	-2.0 (8.2)	0.007	0.02
ASK-20 Scale (20-100)	-3.6 (11.5)	-0.5 (7.0)	0.33	0.69
*Outlier removed; † Adjusted for baseline outcome differences

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ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/the-effect-of-a-rheumatoid-arthritis-peer-support-program-on-clinical-outcomes/