Improving delivery of care and self management for young people with arthritis

Disease - Juvenile idiopathic arthritis

Lead applicant - Dr Despina Eleftheriou

Organisation - University College London

Type of grant - Health Services Research

Status of grant - Active

Amount of the original award - £152,186.93

Start date - 1 December 2016

Reference - 21411

Public Summary

These health services research grants were funded as a joint working programme between Versus Arthritis and Pfizer Ltd.

What are the aims of this research?

The overall aim of this project is to improve the care service provision and ultimately the quality of life of young people with arthritis through promoting service improvement.

Why is this research important?

As young people with arthritis enter adulthood and as they have to transfer from paediatric to adult rheumatology services, it is well understood that health service provision fails to meet the needs of young people and families at this time of significant change. This may result in deterioration in health or disengagement with services which can have negative long-term consequences.

This research aims to address this unmet need by developing and validating a measure of optimal care to allow comparison of clinical service performance in rheumatology for both paediatric and adult services caring for young people with arthritis across the country and explore how this scoring relates to health outcomes.

How will the findings benefit patients?

This project has the potential to significantly improve the care provision and quality of life for young people with arthritis. The development and validation of a measure of adolescent and young adult rheumatology service quality will promote best practice and support services to provide appropriate care and meet the needs of patients.