Eli Lilly and Company and the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society (NRAS), have announced the launch of a new film, called 'Behind the Smile', to encourage people living with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) to have an open conversation with their doctor or nurse about how they are truly feeling and how their disease impacts their day to day life. To coincide with RA Awareness Week, 'Behind the Smile' aims to increase awareness of the silent struggles, both physical and emotional, that people with RA face on a daily basis as they cope with pain, fatigue and stiff joints and encourage healthcare professionals to listen to what really matters to the individual patient.
The 'Behind the Smile' film is launched to coincide with the results from the new survey by Lilly, RA Matters, which reveals a lack of understanding about the true impact of RA. The survey uncovered that many people with RA don't feel the emotional (60%) or the physical (49%) impact of the disease is understood by those around them.
"This short film aims to illustrate what goes on 'behind the smile' for someone with RA and what they truly may be thinking or feeling beneath the outward appearance of coping," said Clare Jacklin, Director of External Affairs, National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society (NRAS), UK. "The film aims to encourage those with RA to open up to those around them including family and work colleagues as well as importantly to have an honest conversation with their doctor or nurse about how the disease truly impacts their everyday life so they [the health professionals] can help provide the best care. The film also holds an important message for the health professionals that while clinic appointments are tight on time and they may have their own targets to meet, prioritising what "matters" to the patient can lead to a far better long-term outcome than just managing the symptoms of the disease. Treat the person not the disease"
Using traditional and social media platforms to recruit respondents, 1,250 people with RA and 65 healthcare professionals were surveyed in the UK to identify what matters most to people with RA in terms of activities, work, personal relationships and aspirations. The survey revealed: Over half of people with RA feel the disease negatively affects relationships in terms of inclusion in family or social events (55%) and quality of time spent with others (52%), 28% of people with RA said that their RA forced them to go on long-term leave or retire and nearly a quarter (23%) felt that their career progression had slowed, 50% of people with RA found the difficulty of using their hands and the unpredictability of how they feel are the main challenges to carrying out work, The three main barriers which prevented people with RA in the UK from undertaking everyday activities such as housework, exercising and washing/personal grooming were: fatigue (59%), aching and stiff joints (57%) and pain (55%). HCPs underestimated the impact of fatigue on patients by 10 per cent.
"RA Awareness Week aims to help people understand what it's really like to live with rheumatoid arthritis," said Dr. Greg van Wyk, Senior Medical Director, Lilly UK. "The RA Matters survey revealed that our lack of understanding of the physical and emotional impact of RA and how it makes people with RA feel still remains a barrier to improving the lives of those living with this disease. At Lilly we want to understand and listen to the challenges that face people living with RA and we are committed to working in partnership with the rheumatology community to help people better manage their disease."