Partners and nurses' knowledge and representations of gout: A qualitative study

Adherence to gout treatment is poor. Partners of patients and nurses are two major communicators with gouty patients, and their perceptions of illness may affect patient behavior.

To explore partners' and nurses' knowledge and representations of gout.

We used a qualitative grounded approach with semi-structured face-to-face individual interviews with a purposive sample of hospital nurses working in rheumatology and internal medicine departments and patient partners. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. All authors met regularly to discuss coding and data interpretation.

Overall, 20 nurses and 12 partners participated in the interviews. Four major themes were evidenced: knowledge gaps (gout cause was unknown, unawareness of urate-lowering therapy and the possibility to cure gout, focus in gout flare and diet); lack of information and education on gout (knowledge acquired by personal experiences, nurses complained to be insufficiently educated, partners highlighted the lack of information and that general practitioners did not have time to educate patients); gout consequences and social impacts (handicapping disease, avoid social activities like dinner with friends); attitudes towards gout flare and patient management (feeling powerless during flare, negative feelings such as being ashamed leading to postpone medical seek or unconcerned about their partner disease). Nurses regretted that they had not enough time to discuss issues with patients.

Partners and nurses' knowledge of gout is based on daily experiences. Participants were eager to learn more about gout. Nurses' education and education programs including partners may improve gout management and patient adherence to treatment.