Mission is Remission®: How Can a Disease Self-management Website Change Care?

Plain-language summary

Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, known together as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), are chronic inflammatory conditions of the gastrointestinal tract. Impacts of IBD such as frequent hospital visits, need for surgery and poor growth, can significantly impact a child's social and academic life. Dealing with a chronic disease forces children to rely more heavily on family members for coping strategies to deal with stress. However, a lot of families do not have the resources (emotional or financial) to provide the level of support needed. A self management site called Mission is Remission® has been created to help adolescents and their families deal with the stressors associated with their disease. The site provides a supportive social network that is centred around learning sessions and active forums discussing topics related to disease self-management and coping. This site actively brings together members of the healthcare team and provides support to families who might not be able to travel for additional appointments outside of routine care. The goal of our research is to understand whether the changes this social support will increase disease-specific knowledge, medication adherence, and health-related quality of life. We will also examine whether these changes may reduce some of the demands placed on the Health Care system (e.g., reduced number of calls and visits to gastroenterology (GI) doctors, or time lost from school/work). In addition, this website has been designed to be adapted in the future to other chronic diseases and will help bring healthcare into the digital age.

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