INSELMA - a Randomised Controlled Trial

Recruiting now · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Rheumatoid Arthritis, Psoriatic Arthritis, Axial Spondyloarthritis

In brief

Background: Patients with inflammatory arthritis (IA) experience substantial impact of their disease despite optimal pharmacological treatment. To be able to manage these challenges effectively, patients require tailored self-management support from various professionals. We thus developed a six-month nurse-coordinated interdisciplinary self-management intervention (INSELMA), in collaboration with patients, clinicians and managers. A pilot study on the INSELMA intervention in 18 participants showed promising results. It is now relevant to test the intervention and compare it to a control group in a larger study . Objectives: The primary objective is to compare the efficacy of the INSELMA intervention to usual care (control group), on health related quality of life measured at baseline and end of intervention (6 months after baseline). Key secondary objectives are to compare the short and longer-term effect of INSELMA on changes in mental well-being, anxiety, depression, fatigue, pain, sleep, physical activity, global impact of the disease, work ability, self-efficacy for managing chronic disease and pain and health literacy relative to usual care from baseline to 6 and 12 months after baseline and on quality of life from baseline to 12 months after baseline. Method: A pragmatic randomised trial with a two-group parallel design. All participants will be randomly allocated to the intervention or usual care only . Both groups will receive usual care. The INSELMA intervention group will be assigned a coordinating rheumatology nurse who performs an initial biopsychosocial assessment. Based on the assessment, the nurse and the patient agree on which activities and goals to work towards for the following six months. The coordinating nurse can refer the patient to see a physiotherapist, an occupational therapist or social worker if needed and can help identify offers in the patients' municipality. The primary endpoint will be change in quality of life from baseline to 6 month after baseline. Key secondary outcome measures are collected to compare the effect of INSELMA on changes in mental well-being, anxiety, depression, fatigue, pain, self-efficacy for managing pain, physical function, global impact of the disease, sleep problems and acceptable symptoms relative to usual care from baseline to 6 and 12 months after baseline.

Key facts

Study ID: NCT06583980
Run by: The Danish Center for Expertise in Rheumatology
People needed: 120
Starts: 2024-09-05
Expected to finish: 2027-08-31
Last updated by the study team: 2025-08-19

Who can join

Age: 18 and older, up to 100. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

Adults aged 18 years or older
Diagnosed with RA, PsA, or axSpA by a rheumatologist for at least 24 months. Connected to the rheumatology department of one of the participating hospitals for at least two years
Answer "no" to the Patient Acceptable Symptom State (PASS) (36), "Think about all the ways your arthritis has affected you during the last 48 hours. If you were to remain in the next few months as you were during the last 48 hours, would this be acceptable to you?" or
report ≥60 on at least one Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) (0-100) for fatigue, pain, or global assessment of the impact of the disease

You may not qualify if…

Planned change or a change during the past three months in treatment with disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) or glucocorticoids.
Participation in other studies of relevance for the outcomes in INSELMA (i.e. TRACE, WORK-ON, SPINCODE, COMFI, PLATE, KRAM-offer).
Not able to speak and understand Danish sufficiently to participate without a translator
Unstable psychiatric illness, cognitive impairment or other physical or mental issues that impede the ability to give informed consent to participation.
Current alcohol or drug use disorder documented in their medical journal
Pregnant or nursing a baby
Planned or ongoing rehabilitation at the Danish Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases or Sano, a pain or sleep clinic
Ongoing application for early retirement or planned surgery requiring admission
Did not participate in the INSELMA feasibility study or is a patient research partner in INSELMA

Where it is running

Frederiksberg Hospital — Frederiksberg, Denmark (enrolling)
Rigshospitalet-Glostrup — Glostrup Municipality, Denmark (enrolling)
Danish Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases — Sønderborg, Denmark (enrolling)

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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