Grant: Operating Grant - PA: Regional Partnership Program - Saskatchewan

Three out of every five Canadians have some form arthritis by age 65. Arthritis causes personal health challenges, such as lower quality of life and disability, and comes with a national cost. In Canada, an imposing $6.4 billion a year is linked to arthritis-related increases in health care use (e.g., hospital stays, medications) and decreases in work productivity. Although there is no cure for arthritis, it can be managed. Regular physical activity for 150+ minutes each week is key for people to effectively manage their arthritis, reduces their health care use, and is cheaper than other treatment options (e.g., prescription drugs). Unfortunately, 60% of Canadians with arthritis are not active enough to reach the recommended level. Motivating these people to be more active and stick with activity in the long term remains a major problem. Our research will identify the key beliefs necessary to motivate people to do regular activity. Our approach is novel because we use two theories to study two different types of changeable beliefs. We will study beliefs that people have about their disease (e.g., how arthritis affects their health) as well as beliefs that people have about trying to remain active when faced with the demands of everyday life (e.g., fitting physical activity into a busy schedule). Our studies are important because they will identify beliefs that are central to motivating activity and that must change in some people to help them better manage their arthritis. Using our findings, our future goals are to develop and offer an effective physical activity and belief change program to help people stick with doing regular activity at the recommended level so they can better manage their arthritis. This, in turn, will contribute to less health care demands and costs. Helping people with arthritis to be more active will produce both individual and societal level impacts.