Congratulations to Flora To-Miles, who has won the 2018 Arthritis Health Professions Association (AHPA)-Arthritis Society Grant Competition for her study, The health promoting potential of social and creative activities: An exploratory study of adults with and without inflammatory arthritis.
This grant will contribute to Flora’s PhD dissertation, which examines how social activities—doing things with or for others—and creative activities—making or designing projects—are associated with health outcomes. Outcomes will be assessed using patient-reported measures and telomere length (a biological marker of health and aging). The award will be presented to Flora at the AHPA Annual General Meeting in Vancouver, held in conjunction with the Canadian Rheumatology Association (CRA) conference, on Friday February 23, 2018.
A summary of Flora’s research project is below:
Previous studies have shown the importance of staying active, engaging with others, and using cognitive thought processes to maintain and improve health, in both healthy populations and those living with inflammatory arthritis (IA). Other than physical activity, there is little evidence regarding the types of activities or occupations that support living well IA.
My study objective is to explore the degree to which participation in occupations characterized as social or creative contribute to health in adults with and without IA. I will recruit 75 adults with IA and 75 without IA, following them for 1 year. Occupations and occupational characteristics will be evaluated using Personal Projects Analysis. Associations between occupational characteristics and self-reported health, disease status, physical activity, occupational balance, and stress will be explored at baseline and 1 year. To bolster self-reports of perceived health, I will include a novel biological marker of physiological health: telomere length (TL). Telomeres cap and protect the tips of chromosomes and shorter telomeres are related to cellular aging, poor health, inflammation, and stress. Thus, TL is considered an objective marker of health and is increasingly used in applied research. Physical activity and meditation are associated with longer telomeres, but no research has been conducted examining other types of occupations.
Significance
My study will provide insights on how different types of occupations are related to health. By examining the relationship between both social and creative types of occupations and health outcomes, we hope that this study will eventually lead to preliminary activity recommendations that can be incorporated into self-management strategies for people living with IA. Ultimately, findings will inform occupation-based lifestyle recommendations to promote health for those living with IA.