Rheum 2 Play - Child Health & Exercise Medicine Program

dad helping young girl skating

We are trying to learn more about the movement skills of children with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA). Research tells us that when children develop JIA early, they might move in ways that protect the joints in their body that experience pain (for example, if a child’s right knee is sore, they might always go down the stairs leading with their left knee). In doing so, children often tend to develop different movement patterns. Over time, these movement patterns might make it more difficult to do things like catch or throw a ball, run, jump or balance. We also know that if we don’t find ways to help children with JIA improve the way they move early on, many of these issues will continue through to adulthood.

What are our objectives:

In this study, we are aiming to:

1. Survey parents and physiotherapists to learn more about the kind of skills and activities children with JIA struggle with from an early age.

2. Use this information to design the Rheum 2 Play toolkit that can help children with JIA learn the fundamental movement skills they need to engage in a healthy and active lifestyle.

What does this study involve?

If you volunteer to participate in this study, you will not be required to make any additional visits to the hospital. We will ask you to fill out an online survey. This survey will take about 30 minutes to complete and will ask a series of questions about your child’s or patients’ movement behaviors. We will ask you about any observed activity limitations in children with JIA and ask you to prioritize your concerns with respect to fundamental movement skills (catching, throwing, balancing, jumping etc.)

You also have the option to participate in a focus group with other parents and/or physiotherapists. This part of the study is not required to fill out the survey. During this session the research team will present a list of proposed activities that children can do to improve their fundamental movement skills. You will be asked to provide feedback and suggestions about the feasibility of these activities in terms of equipment, space, and time required to participate in the activities.

Who is eligible to participate?

We are looking to recruit:

1. Parents with a child diagnosed with JIA between the ages of 1 – 5 years

2. Physiotherapists who presently or previously worked with pediatric patients with JIA for at least one year

If I am interested, who do I contact?

If you have questions or want to learn more about this study, please contact Elyse by email at Rheum2Play@gmail.com.

The Rheum 2 Play study is funded by Hamilton Health Sciences.