Patient education as a status passage in life - An ethnographic study exploring participation in a Danish group based patient education programme.

In this paper, we apply the theory of status passage to the empirical field of group-based patient education. On the basis of ethnographic fieldwork carried out in the context of a local Danish patient education programme aimed at people diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, we illustrate how participation in the programme for the recently diagnosed is a regularised status passage symbolising a transition in life from a novice to a more experienced person with chronic illness. We demonstrate how central properties of status passage are at play and how they are shaped by interactions among the different agents: participants, lay experts and health professionals.

It means everything: continuing normality of everyday life for people with rheumatoid arthritis in early remission.

Objective: The aim of this follow-up study was twofold: firstly, to explore how people who were clinically regarded to be in a state of remission experienced their everyday lives with rheumatoid arthritis (RA); secondly, to explore the experiences of people in early remission with healthcare provision and their perceived support needs.

Methods: Two focus group interviews were conducted with 11 participants in total. Interview data were analysed using content analysis methods.

Everyday life with rheumatoid arthritis and implications for patient education and clinical practice: a focus group study.

Objectives: This study aimed to explore how everyday life is affected by rheumatoid arthritis (RA), in order to inform patient education and clinical practice and generate further research.

Methods: Six focus group interviews were conducted with, in total, 32 participants. Interview data were analysed using content analysis methods.