ABSTRACT
Followup telephone interviews were conducted with a stratified random sample of 305 users of a prototype telephone information service for arthritis 2-4 months after their initial contact with the service. The percentage of respondents who reported taking at least 1 positive action for their arthritis because of service usage was 79%. The most frequently reported actions of users were asking their doctor more questions and greater compliance with their doctor's orders. About one-half of the respondents felt more in control of their arthritis because of service usage. Both the taking of at least 1 action and the taking of certain specific actions were significantly correlated with feeling more in control of the arthritis (P less than 0.01). Respondents who were less than 60 years old, black, or symptomatic were significantly more likely to take an action and took significantly more actions (P less than 0.01). This minimal intervention may stimulate positive behaviors for individuals with arthritis.
Subject(s)
Arthritis , Behavior , Information Services , Telephone , Female , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , Interviews as Topic , Male , Middle Aged , Patient Compliance , Physician-Patient Relations , Time FactorsABSTRACT
Brief interviews were conducted with 1670 users of the Arthritis Information Service of Alabama, a statewide toll-free telephone information service. The results showed the service users were significantly (p less than 0.01) different from both the adult population and from the estimated symptomatic population of the service area. Users tended to be female, symptomatic, white, older, and better educated than the adult population. The most frequent category of need was emotional support, followed by referral, symptom/test explanation, treatment explanation, self-help method, medication, and physician-patient communication. Informational needs were significantly related to the gender, age, and the reported diagnoses of the user. Our results suggested that telephone services for health promotion may need to make special efforts to reach nonwhite and less educated persons and to provide emotional support.
Subject(s)
Arthritis , Health Services Research , Hotlines , Information Services , Adult , Age Factors , Aged , Alabama , Arthritis/prevention & control , Arthritis/psychology , Attitude to Health/ethnology , Ethnicity/psychology , Female , Health Promotion , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Referral and Consultation , Sex Factors , Social SupportABSTRACT
Arthritis patients are prone to misperceptions, forgetfulness, and the use of unproven remedies. They also may become noncompliant and be unaware of community resources. Informational or educational programs such as the Arthritis Information Service of Alabama may be useful for reducing these problems. There have been several reports concerning the use of telephone services (e.g.), for providing information about specific diseases but few concerning arthritis. An important step in the evaluation of a telephone information service is the surveying of user opinions concerning the service's procedures and its benefits. The purposes of the present study were to estimate the percentage of users who believed they had benefited from service usage, to identify the potential benefits of service usage, and to identify the groups most likely to report benefits.
