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JointHealth™ express   May 10, 2016

Employment and Arthritis: Making it Work

Arthritis Research Canada needs your help to evaluate an online program to help people with inflammatory arthritis at work.

Arthritis Research Canada would like to evaluate the effectiveness of Employment and Arthritis: Making it Work – an online eLearning program designed to help people with inflammatory arthritis stay employed. To do so, they are looking for participants to join a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the aforementioned program.

You are eligible if you meet the following requirements:
  • You are between the ages of 18 and 59 years;
  • You have an inflammatory type of arthritis (such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, lupus, ankylosing spondylitis);
  • You are currently working in paid employment, either full-time or part-time, working by contract, working on a farm, or be self-employed.
  • You have access to a computer, high speed internet, a webcam and headset.
The study is a randomized controlled trial, which is a type of study where people are assigned by chance to one of two groups:
  1. The intervention group: If you are in this group, you will be participating in the online program. The program can be done from the comfort of your own home and has 5 self-paced online modules and 5 corresponding on-line group meetings. The online group meetings are held every 2 weeks, followed by assessments by health care professionals. Each program group includes 8 to 11 people and is facilitated by a vocational rehab counsellor.
  2. The control group: If you are in this group, you will receive printed material (brochures and information sheets) about arthritis and employment and will continue to receive your usual care by your doctor and other health professionals. You will be given the opportunity to do the program at the end of the study (approximately in 3-5 years).
If you would like more information, please contact Pamela Rogers, Study Coordinator by phone at 604-207-4016, toll free 1-877-878-4558, or email makingitwork@arthritisresearch.ca. To learn what the lead researcher, Dr. Diane Lacaille, have to say about the research, please click here.