Living Well With Rheumatoid Arthritis

"The program will begin with a half day orientation to meet the trained professional coaches and other patients enrolled in the program. Following the orientation there will be group meetings of 8-10 RA patients every other week for twelve weeks with one of the trained coaches. In the weeks patients do not meet with the group, patients will have individual coaching sessions. The group meetings will last approximately 90 minutes and the individual meetings will last 50 minutes. A maintenance program will follow with bimonthly coaching sessions and a group meeting once a month over the next six months.~Three, six and nine months after the beginning of the program, patients will return to the hospital to complete the same research questionnaire and physical examination they received at baseline."

The intervention for the controls includes an initial meeting with a health professional. Once a month for 9 months, patients will received educational material and a follow-up phone call to ask if the patient received the information and to answer any questions about the material.