Grant: Catalyst Grant: Partnering for Impact - Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis affects about 1% of Canadians and causes joint pain, swelling, and potentially permanent damage if not treated early. However, many people-especially those living in rural areas, immigrants, people with lower incomes, LGBTQ+ individuals, French speakers outside Quebec, and people with mobility challenges-face significant barriers getting from their first symptoms to seeing a specialist. These delays can lead to irreversible joint damage and reduced quality of life. What We Will Do: We will bring together people with rheumatoid arthritis from these underserved communities as equal partners with healthcare providers, researchers, and health system leaders through online workshops. Together, we will create visual "journey maps" that show what happens from when someone first notices symptoms through getting diagnosed and starting treatment. These maps will highlight where the biggest barriers exist and what resources could help overcome them. Our Approach: Using a proven community collaboration model, we will run virtual sessions with 20-30 participants over 12 months. People with arthritis will lead these sessions, sharing their experiences and identifying what support they needed at each stage. We will create maps for each of the six communities, plus one overall map showing common themes. Impact: These journey maps will serve two critical purposes. First, they provide immediate practical tools for healthcare providers to better support patients and help community organizations assist people seeking care. Second, and most importantly, the maps will identify specific priority areas for future projects that actually change how the healthcare system works-catalyzing real-world improvements to reduce barriers and inequities in arthritis care access. Our systematic evaluation will also advance knowledge about how to meaningfully partner with marginalized communities in health research.