A prospective comparison of telemedicine versus in-person delivery of an interprofessional education program for adults with inflammatory arthritis.

IntroductionWe evaluated two modes of delivery of an inflammatory arthritis education program (“Prescription for Education” (RxEd)) in improving arthritis self-efficacy and other secondary outcomes.MethodsWe used a non-randomized, pre-post design to compare videoconferencing (R, remote using telemedicine) versus local (I, in-person) delivery of the program. Data were collected at baseline (T1), immediately following RxEd (T2), and at six months (T3). Self-report questionnaires served as the data collection tool. Measures included demographics, disorder-related, Arthritis Self-Efficacy Scale (SE), previous knowledge (Arthritis Community Research and Evaluation Unit (ACREU) rheumatoid arthritis knowledge questionnaire), coping efficacy, Illness Intrusiveness, and Effective Consumer Scale. Analysis included: baseline comparisons and longitudinal trends (R vs I groups); direct between-group comparisons; and Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) analysis.ResultsA total of 123 persons attended the program (I: ...