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European Qualitative research project on Patient-preferred outcomes in Early Rheumatoid Arthritis (EQPERA): rationale, design and methods of a multinational, multicentre, multilingual, longitudinal qualitative study
  1. Kristien Van der Elst1,2,
  2. Ann Bremander3,4,5,
  3. An De Groef6,7,
  4. Ingrid Larsson5,8,
  5. Elke G E Mathijssen9,
  6. Johanna E Vriezekolk9,
  7. Rene Westhovens1,2,
  8. Yvonne J L van Eijk-Hustings10,11
  1. 1 Department of Rheumatology, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
  2. 2 Skeletal Biology and Engineering Research Centre, Department of Development and Regeneration, KU Leuven–University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
  3. 3 Department of Clinical Sciences, Section of Rheumatology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
  4. 4 School of Business, Engineering and Science, Halmstad University, Halmstad, Sweden
  5. 5 Research and Development Centre, Spenshult, Halmstad, Sweden
  6. 6 Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, KU Leuven – University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
  7. 7 Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
  8. 8 School of Health and Welfare, Halmstad University, Halmstad, Sweden
  9. 9 Department of Rheumatology, Sint Maartenskliniek, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
  10. 10 Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Medical Technology Assessment, Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, The Netherlands
  11. 11 Department of Rheumatology, Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, The Netherlands
  1. Correspondence to Dr Kristien Van der Elst; kristien.vanderelst{at}uzleuven.be

Abstract

Introduction Including the patient perspective is important to achieve optimal outcomes in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Ample qualitative studies exist on patient outcomes in RA. A Belgian study recently unravelled what matters most to patients throughout the overwhelming and rapidly evolving early stage of RA. The present study, European Qualitative research project on Patient-preferred outcomes in Early Rheumatoid Arthritis (EQPERA) was created to contribute to a more universal understanding of patient-preferred health and treatment outcomes by integrating the perspectives of patients with early RA from three European countries.

Methods and analysis In EQPERA, a qualitative, explorative, longitudinal study will be implemented in The Netherlands and Sweden, parallel to the methods applied in the previously conducted Belgian study. In each country, a purposive sample of patients with early RA will be individually interviewed 3–6 months after start of the initial RA treatment and subsequently, the same participants will be invited to take part in a focus group 12–18 months after RA treatment initiation. Data collection and analysis will be independently conducted by the local research teams in their native language. A meta-analysis of the local findings will be performed to explore and describe similarities, differences and patterns across countries.

Ethics and dissemination Ethics approval was granted by the responsible local ethics committees. EQPERA follows the recommendations of the Declaration of Helsinki. Two main papers are foreseen (apart from the data reporting on the local findings) for peer-reviewed publication.

  • rheumatoid arthritis
  • qualitative research
  • longitudinal study
  • patient preference

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-023606

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors The following authors were involved in this study: KVdE, AB, ADG, IL, EGEM, JEV, RW, YJLvE-H. KVdE and RW had the main idea of the study. KVdE, AB, ADG, IL, EGEM, JEV, RW and YJLvE-H contributed to the design of the study. KVdE, YJLvE-H and RW drafted the manuscript. KVdE, AB, ADG, IL, EGEM, JEV, RW and YJLvE-H were involved in the editing of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript. Apart from the first and last authors, the other authors are listed in alphabetical order.

    • Funding This work was supported by an unrestricted educational grant of Bristol-Myers Squibb, by a travel grant from Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Reuma Onderzoek (fund for Scientific Rheumatism Research) (Belgium) and by Southern Health Care Region (Sweden).

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Patient consent for publication Not required.