Project overview
People with inflammatory arthritis, such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and axial spondyloarthritis, often experience delays in getting a diagnosis. However, early diagnosis leads to better health and quality of life outcomes for people living with inflammatory arthritis. One reason why diagnostic delay occurs might be how symptoms are described and understood during GP appointments. Patients may use many different words to describe their symptoms, and doctors may struggle to understand and recognise these words as the signs of inflammatory arthritis.
There are two studies in WORDS-IA
1. In-depth case studies: This will involve interviews with people with diagnosed inflammatory arthritis to explore their diagnostic journey, focusing on language used to describe their symptoms, how this may have changed over time and factors influencing communication (for example fatigue, co-occurring Autism/ADHD, English as a second language etc.). Alongside the interviews, we will ask people if they are happy to provide consent to access their medical records. We will use these records to match up with the stories told in the interviews to give a full picture of how discussions went and what action was taken by clinicians. We will then hold a workshop with primary care professionals (e.g. GPs, physios, nurses) to understand their perspectives.
2. Observing real consultations: This will involve observing real consultations between patients and GPs, to see what language is being used to describe symptoms and how this shapes decision making.
Overall, this project will explore:
• How people that go on to being diagnosed with inflammatory arthritis talked about their symptoms with primary care professionals
• How GPs understood and responded to patient language, and what impact this had on clinical decision making/pathways to diagnosis
• How these conversations happen in real-life consultations
By understanding language patterns, we hope to find ways to improve early diagnosis. This could lead to better training for GPs to recognise language that might indicate inflammatory arthritis earlier and tools to help patients explain their symptoms.
There are two studies in WORDS-IA
1. In-depth case studies: This will involve interviews with people with diagnosed inflammatory arthritis to explore their diagnostic journey, focusing on language used to describe their symptoms, how this may have changed over time and factors influencing communication (for example fatigue, co-occurring Autism/ADHD, English as a second language etc.). Alongside the interviews, we will ask people if they are happy to provide consent to access their medical records. We will use these records to match up with the stories told in the interviews to give a full picture of how discussions went and what action was taken by clinicians. We will then hold a workshop with primary care professionals (e.g. GPs, physios, nurses) to understand their perspectives.
2. Observing real consultations: This will involve observing real consultations between patients and GPs, to see what language is being used to describe symptoms and how this shapes decision making.
Overall, this project will explore:
• How people that go on to being diagnosed with inflammatory arthritis talked about their symptoms with primary care professionals
• How GPs understood and responded to patient language, and what impact this had on clinical decision making/pathways to diagnosis
• How these conversations happen in real-life consultations
By understanding language patterns, we hope to find ways to improve early diagnosis. This could lead to better training for GPs to recognise language that might indicate inflammatory arthritis earlier and tools to help patients explain their symptoms.
