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May 23-24, 2019 | Vienna, Austria
Nursing Care
28
th
International Conference on
Journal of Intensive and Critical Care Nursing | Volume 2
J Intensive Crit Care Nurs, Volume 2
Perceptions of empowerment among rheumatoid arthritis patients and their health-
care providers: A descriptive qualitative study
Siriwan Lim
1
, Violeta Lopez
1
, Hong-gu He
1
and
Manjari Lahiri
2
1
National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore
2
National University Hospital (NUH), Singapore
Background:
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic
condition that causes patients to experience progressive
pain, fatigue, loss of bodily function and involve multiple
organ systems. Patients who are well informed and have
good knowledge about their medication are most likely
to have safer and better management of their condition.
Studies have shown patients living with chronic diseases
who are empowered have better control of their condition.
There is currently limited research looking into patient
empowerment among RA patients in Asian population.
Objective:
To explore the perception of empowerment
among rheumatoid arthritis patients and their healthcare
providers (HCPs) in Singapore.
Method:
This is a descriptive qualitative study using
a purposive sampling of adult patients and their HCPs
who were recruited from a local healthcare outpatient
Rheumatology clinic. The final sample size was determined
through data saturation. Data collected from face-to-face
interviews and focus groups interviews were analysed
using thematic analysis.
Results:
The themes that emerged from the patients and
HCPs group showed both groups have common themes
related to factors that facilitate and inhibit empowerment.
Themes that empower patients included: 1) exercising
HCPs ‘power’ to empower RA patient and 2) mobilising
resources to empower patients. Themes that negate
patient empowerment were: 1) limited health literacy and
2) limitation of healthcare services delivery and funding.
Conclusion:
Theresultsshowthereisaneedforintervention
to address the gaps in the patients’ empowerment level.
Speaker Biography
Siriwan Lim is a Senior Lecturer at Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies
(ALCNS), Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of
Singapore (NUS). She is trained as a Critical Care Nurse, Infection
Control Practitioner and Nurse Educator. She is currently pursuing
her Doctorate in Philosophy in NUS. Her research areas of interest
are chronic diseases and patient empowerment, nursing innovation in
education and inter-professional education.
e:
nursl@nus.edu.sg