THE EXPERIENCE IN CONDUCTING THE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM FOR RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS PATIENTS IN AN ONLINE MODE (IN THE FORM OF A WEBINAR)

Abstract

The educational program ("School of Health") is an integral part of comprehensive management of rheumatoid arthritis patients. In connection with the pandemic of the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19), as part of prophylactic measures to prevent its spread, to reduce contacts between patients, distance learning becomes an ideal way to conduct an educational program. The aim of this work was to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of the educational program for rheumatoid arthritis patients, implemented in an online mode in the form of webinars. The study involved 16 rheumatoid arthritis patients (14 of them were women) aged 24 to 53 years with average disease duration of 13.6±8.2 years. The "School of Health" consisted of 5 online classes in the form of webinars on Zoom platform lasting 30 minutes each, held at intervals of 3-4 days. The educational program included 4 modules (4 classes): 1) the concept of rheumatoid arthritis, diagnosis and pharmacological therapy; 2) rehabilitation: physical and psychological; orthotics; 3) dietary recommendations, private questions; 4) physical activity, physical therapy. The fifth lesson was aimed at consolidating the knowledge, discussing the issues of entrance testing and the results of questionnaires filled out by patients during the educational process using the Google Forms service. At the end of the training, the level of patients' awareness about their disease increased by 16.3%. One of the positive aspects of distance learning is the opportunity to repeatedly view the training material – all videos of online classes have open access on Youtube resource. In current epidemiological situation, one of the best ways of communication between a doctor and a rheumatoid arthritis patient is an educational program conducted in an online mode in the form of webinars, giving the patient a holistic view of his disease, the goals and tactics of treatment, developing skills of rational behavior in non-professional and professional activities.