Background/Purpose: Living with a rheumatic condition comes with unique concerns specific to mental and social health like struggling with fatigue, anxiety, depression, and isolation, all while experiencing chronic pain and complications from being immunocompromised. Since my rheumatoid arthritis (RA) diagnosis eight years ago, I am no stranger to such feelings. The Covid-19 pandemic heightened these concerns, and had a large impact on my well-being and the well-being of many other people living with arthritis.

Intervention: Peer support groups for people with arthritis to meet with each other in person is an effective approach to combating anxiety and loneliness. With support from the Arthritis Society Canada’s Community Action Grant, and using my skills and connections as a patient advocate to create a support group, I created an in-person support group to be held at a Vancouver, Canada arthritis clinic. “The Arthritis Social Hour” was designed for people with any form of arthritis between the ages of 25-55, an age group often without programs designed for them. The aim of this group was to provide a safe space for patients to express their concerns, share their journey, and learn from each other and qualified professionals in a fun, easy to understand and engaging environment.

Maintenance: Across ten in-person support group sessions held from February 8 to April 5, eighteen unique patients attended, many attending multiple sessions. Some patients reported never having met another person with arthritis in their age range, including someone who had been living with RA for 30 years. Patients new to Canada, who did not know anyone living with the condition and were newly diagnosed without current medical help, were able to receive guidance on where to seek care for their arthritis. Some patients met with an occupational therapist or physiotherapist for the first time at the in-person sessions. These providers offered long-term advice on how to exercise or self-manage arthritis.

Quality of Life: As people with lived experience, we speak a unique language together that can often not be provided elsewhere. Connecting with others living through similar experiences can foster transformative moments in our disease journeys. Such encounters lead us to feeling part of a community that understands and relates to the struggles that come with living with arthritis, especially as younger to middle-aged adults.

Hosting a support group reminded me how important it is for patients to connect with each other, to support each other, and learn together.

Since hosting the event, I have been able to reduce my own feelings of isolation and loneliness as a person living with arthritis.

The majority of my appointments are no longer than 20 minutes, which is not enough time for deep conversations on topics important to me. The opportunity to sit for two hours talking with other patients and professionals provided me with an incredibly invaluable amount of information and resources from my local community, which has broadened my abilities to self-manage my condition.

The Arthritis Social Hour continues to meet once a month to connect more people. The group’s size and popularity is growing, along with my skills as a leading patient advocate.

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ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/you-cant-get-this-from-a-doctor-the-role-of-support-groups-for-adults-aged-25-55-living-with-arthritis/