Peer To Peer Mentoring

When I joined the research study for "Peer to Peer Mentoring For Individuals With Early Inflammatory Arthritis" I expected to be sharing information with others who had a new diagnosis of inflammatory arthritis. I did not count on learning so much myself.

This program appealed to me greatly.  When I was first diagnosed with RA (rheumatoid arthritis) I would have appreciated meeting someone who could give me tips and a viewpoint about RA based on life experience.  What I wished for was a friend who could help me.

Upon diagnosis I knew very little and had no support. My doctor at the time was a good source of information but interactions with him were limited.  It was lucky for me that I was admitted to hospital when I was diagnosed to start aggressive therapy. There I met a support team of professionals.  Since this was before easy access to the internet they and my doctor were the only help I had.

                                 

                                      Rheumatology waiting room (Sunnybrook HSC)

After 10 years with RA I finally began educating myself about my health problems and the health system.  When I volunteered to join the Peer Mentor program one prerequisite for participation was taking the Arthritis Self Management Program through The Arthritis Society. Though it seemed like a formality at first I learned from the program and from the other patients.

Of course for a research study the knowledge level among the mentors had to be consistent so all participants were in for some serious training. When the training started I was presented with a five pound binder full of resources and information and participated in amazingly good instruction with the other mentors and the research team.

                                                         My 5 pound binder

The program was terrific for me.  I gained a lot of confidence in my ability to help someone with Early Inflammatory Arthritis without being too overwhelmed. Another great piece of learning was to stop and listen more. If you talk too much you never hear anything.  In fact what I learned about goal setting was a big help to me in my working life as well.
The other mentors who I met in the program had such a diversity of strengths. Everyone contributed to the learning process.

Here is a brief overview from The Arthritis Society site:

http://www.arthritis.ca/research/summary/PeertoPeer  Peer to Peer Mentoring for Individuals with Early Inflammatory Arthritis (EIA)


And here are the papers published by Dr. Mary Bell and the team:

http://www.pec-journal.com/article/S0738-3991(13)00053-0/abstract

The experience and impact of chronic disease peer support interventions: A qualitative synthesis

Peer To Peer Mentoring: Facilitating Individuals with Early Inflammatory Arthritisto Manage Their Arthritis – Exploring Learning and Support Needs

http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/3/3/e002267.full.pdf+html 

Peer-to-peer mentoring for individuals with EIA: feasibility pilot

Do It Yourself Management of Chronic Disease

We can't manage our chronic disease by ourselves, unless we quickly graduate from medical school and then become specialists.  That's not too likely with a new diagnosis that has an impact on your health.  

                                                 etsy NostalgicLinks


However, to take a guess, even average people don't see doctors much more than two hours over a year.  And that may be a high estimate.  But even if you spent a whole 24 hours out of your year seeing doctors and other health care professionals, that leaves you with the other 364 days to take care of yourself.

There is one thing I have learned on Twitter.  That is that health literacy is the greatest predictor of health. In this context literacy means Grade 8 or better education.  I would go further and say that with a chronic disease you need to be able to do even more - you need to learn the medical vocabulary of your disease so that the appointments you have with doctors are as effective as possible.  Many of us have likely had the experience of having to wait for the next appointment to decide on a course of action because we needed time to educate ourselves on the choices offered.

                                                                   TheDecisionTree.com

I have used some formal resources to enable me to manage my RA better.  The first thing I did was take a course called The Arthritis Self Management course (ASMP) offered by The Arthritis Society in Canada.  It took 3 hours a week for 4 weeks and I ended up feeling more confident that some things I was doing were right and in some areas I could do better.  The area that needed most improvement for me had to do with setting achievable goals.

                                               

The program that the Arthritis Society offers is based on the Stanford Chronic Disease Self Management Program  I was lucky enough to participate in this program also, as an online course.  Talking to others with problems of their own and finding solutions as part of a group is very helpful.  I found out today that you can take that course free by signing up online for Better Choices,Better Health 

In fact much of the experience in these courses can be recreated on Twitter in terms of support, but not with the discipline and the fixed agenda of these workshops.  They give you a tool kit to help you progress.

At one course I heard the story of elderly lady who had very little mobility.  She built up her stamina by walking around her dining room table and increasing the number of circuits every day. Small steps to success can make a huge difference.