| Summary: | The purpose of this research study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Arthritis Self-Management Program (ASMP), developed by Dr. K. Lorig, on a population of persons with scleroderma. This particular condition is a type of arthritis (also known as progressive systemic sclerosis) involving a disorder of the small blood vessels and connective tissues. It is characterized by the induration and thickening of the skin and by inflammatory, fibrotic, ischemic, and degenerative changes in the tissues throughout the body. Eighteen people, most of which were female, in the Vancouver Lower Mainland with the diagnosis of scleroderma volunteered for this study. Quantitative and qualitative methodological orientations were used to collect and analyze the data. A quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest nonequivalent comparison group design was used. Self-administered, standardized questionnaires were distributed to a sample of subjects to collect the quantitative data, and a standardized open-ended interview questionnaire was used to collect the qualitative data. The quantitative questionnaire comprised research instruments including The Visual Analogue Pain Scale, Health Assessment Questionnaire, Centre for Epidemiological Studies of Depression Scale, Cantril Quality of Life Scale, Arthritis Self-Efficacy
Scale, and Health Locus of Control Scale. The quantitative findings indicated that no statistically significant improvements in health status were found. However, clinically significant improvement trends in health status were found. The qualitative findings generally indicated that the experimental subjects enjoyed the ASMP, found it to increase their perceived level of coping with the management of scleroderma, and found the ASMP to be a positive learning experience. With the exception of the ASMP being limited in its specific application to people with scleroderma, it proved to be a feasible patient education course for these people. === Arts, Faculty of === Social Work, School of === Graduate
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