"It's very saddening, you keep on wondering when the symptoms will be over": A qualitative study exploring the long-term chikungunya disease impact on daily life and well-being, 6 years after disease onset

BACKGROUND

Long-term chikungunya is a mosquito-borne disease, characterized by disabling rheumatic symptoms persisting for years, after infection with the chikungunya virus. Previous studies focused on assessing the well-being of affected individuals from a quantitative perspective using generic instruments, and have reported physical and psychological impairment. However, a common critique is that generic instrument's structured responses and pre-defined health domains selected by health professionals, may not capture the full extent of well-being impairment experienced by patients. This study aimed to explore in-depth to which extent long-term chikungunya disease impacts daily living and the physical, psychological, and social well-being from the experiences and perspective of affected individuals.

METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS

Using open-ended questions, in-depth interviews were conducted with 20 purposively selected individuals with long-term chikungunya disease, in Curaçao. Interview audio-recordings were transcribed verbatim. The data were thematically analyzed. Living with persistent rheumatic symptoms affected the participant's daily living and well-being in several ways: experience of physical impact (restricted physical functioning and limitations in activities of daily life); experience of psychological impact (altered emotional state, fear of walking and running, psychosocial aspects of footwear adaptations, and uncertainty about disease progression and future health); and experience of social impact (social isolation and impaired relational maintenance, social dependency, challenges of social support, at-work productivity loss, and giving up leisure activities after work).

CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE

This study, the first of its kind, indicated that the adverse impact of long-term chikungunya disease is currently underreported. The persistent rheumatic symptoms had a negative effect on functional ability, which in turn impacted broad aspects of daily life and well-being, beyond what is captured by generic instruments. In the view of the findings, physical exercise programs including manual therapy, aerobics, resistance and stretching exercises, and orthopaedic footwear interventions in a multidisciplinary patient-centred approach may improve physical function and subsequently overall well-being.

Describing the occupational nature of practice: A scoping review

BACKGROUND

Describing how occupation is used in practice can be challenging for occupational therapists. Occupation-centred, occupation-based, and occupation-focussed terminology are frequently used interchangeably and ambiguously to describe practice. However, ambiguous language creates confusion and inadequately demonstrates the value of occupation.

AIMS/OBJECTIVES

This scoping review aimed to identify how occupation-centred, occupation-based, and occupation-focussed terminology are defined and represented in occupational therapy literature.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A five-step scoping review included papers published between 2014 and 2019 from four databases. Extracted data were summarised to outline how the terms were being used within the literature.

RESULTS

Initial searching yielded 819 articles and 35 papers met inclusion/exclusion criteria. Within current literature, occupation-focussed and occupation-based terminology were inconsistently described. A limited number of articles used occupation-centred and occupation-focussed terminology to describe practice, whilst occupation-based was more prominent. Occupation-based terminology was represented in numerous ways to describe assessments, practice tools, interventions, research, and theory. Discrepancies between the description and implementation of occupation-based practice were most prominent within interventions.

CONCLUSION AND SIGNIFICANCE

Findings demonstrated that occupation-based and occupation-focussed terminology were used interchangeably and inconsistently in literature. It is timely to consider how this is problematic for our professional identity and perceptions of occupation in practice.

Linking occupational therapy models and assessments to the ICF to enable standardized documentation of functioning

BACKGROUND.

The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) can serve as reference for standardized documentation of health in clinical practice.

PURPOSE.

This study aims to bridge the gap between the ICF and occupational therapy specific concepts, represented by occupational therapy models and their derived assessments.

METHOD.

Occupational therapy assessments in relation to their models were systematically linked to the ICF, and a compatibility analysis was conducted. To strengthen reliability of the linkings, feedback from the respective assessment hosts was obtained.

FINDINGS.

Linking tables were developed for the Assessment of Motor and Process Skills, the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure, and the Model of Human Occupation Screening Tool. Similarities and differences between the ICF and the three assessments and their associated models show how they differ from and complement each other.

IMPLICATIONS.

The findings of this study lay the foundation for standardized documentation in occupational therapy and enhance the practicability of the ICF.

Persons with rheumatoid arthritis challenge the relevance of the health assessment questionnaire: a qualitative study of patient perception

Background

The Stanford Health Assessment Questionnaire-Disability Index (HAQ) is widely used to measure functional ability in persons with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). The instrument was developed with limited involvement from persons with RA, and their perception of the instrument has not been studied in depth. The aim of this study was to explore how persons with RA experience the use of the HAQ in care.

Methods

The study used secondary data analysis. Persons with RA participated in semi-structured interviews in previous research projects. Thirty-nine interviews were included based on data fit, and thematic analysis applied.

Results

The participants questioned the relevance of the HAQ but nevertheless experienced that the instrument had a profound effect on their understanding of health and how care is delivered. The analysis resulted in three themes: Problems with individual items, meaning of the summative score, and effects on care and health perceptions.

Conclusions

To make the HAQ relevant to persons with RA, it needs to be revised or to include an option to select items most meaningful to the respondent. To ensure relevance, the HAQ update should preferably be co-created by researchers, clinicians and persons with RA.