Peer-to-Peer Mentoring for African American Women With Lupus: A Feasibility Pilot

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Abstract

<div class="section"> <a class="named-anchor" id="S1">  </a> <h5 class="section-title" id="d212303e208">Objective</h5> <p id="P1">To examine the feasibility and potential benefits of peer mentoring to improve the disease self-management and quality of life of individuals with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). </p> </div><div class="section"> <a class="named-anchor" id="S2">  </a> <h5 class="section-title" id="d212303e213">Methods</h5> <p id="P2">Peer mentors were trained and paired with up to three mentees to receive self-management education and support by telephone over 12 weeks. This study took place at an academic teaching hospital in Charleston, South Carolina. Seven quads consisting of one peer mentor and three mentees were matched based on factors such as age, area of residence, marital and work status. Mentee outcomes of self-management, health-related quality of life, and disease activity were measured using validated tools at baseline, mid-intervention, and post-intervention. Descriptive statistics and effect sizes were calculated to determine clinically important (>0.3) changes from baseline. </p> </div><div class="section"> <a class="named-anchor" id="S3">  </a> <h5 class="section-title" id="d212303e218">Results</h5> <p id="P3">Mentees showed trends toward lower disease activity (p=0.004) and improved health-related quality of life, in the form of decreased anxiety (p=0.018) and decreased depression (p=0.057). Other improvements in health-related quality of life were observed with effect sizes exceeding 0.3, but did not reach statistical significance. In addition, both mentees and mentors gave very high scores for perceived treatment credibility and service delivery. </p> </div><div class="section"> <a class="named-anchor" id="S4">  </a> <h5 class="section-title" id="d212303e223">Conclusion</h5> <p id="P4">The intervention was well received. Training, peer mentoring program, and outcome measures were demonstrated to be feasible with modifications. This provides preliminary support for the efficacy, acceptability, and perceived credibility of a peer mentoring approach to improve disease self-management and health-related quality of life in African American women with SLE. Peer mentoring may augment current rheumatological care. </p> </div>

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Development and testing of a short form of the patient activation measure.

Judith Hibbard, Eldon R. Mahoney, Jean Stockard … (2005)

The Patient Activation Measure (PAM) is a 22-item measure that assesses patient knowledge, skill, and confidence for self-management. The measure was developed using Rasch analyses and is an interval level, unidimensional, Guttman-like measure. The current analysis is aimed at reducing the number of items in the measure while maintaining adequate precision. We relied on an iterative use of Rasch analysis to identify items that could be eliminated without loss of significant precision and reliability. With each item deletion, the item scale locations were recalibrated and the person reliability evaluated to check if and how much of a decline in precision of measurement resulted from the deletion of the item. The data used in the analysis were the same data used in the development of the original 22-item measure. These data were collected in 2003 via a telephone survey of 1,515 randomly selected adults. Principal Findings. The analysis yielded a 13-item measure that has psychometric properties similar to the original 22-item version. The scores for the 13-item measure range in value from 38.6 to 53.0 (on a theoretical 0-100 point scale). The range of values is essentially unchanged from the original 22-item version. Subgroup analysis suggests that there is a slight loss of precision with some subgroups. The results of the analysis indicate that the shortened 13-item version is both reliable and valid.