Background

Patient education should form an integral part in the management of any chronic disease [1]. Arthritis Educational Needs Assessment Tool (ENAT) was designed to identify individual educational needs of patients with arthritis [2]. Aim The aim of this study was to evaluate the educational needs of people with osteoarthritis by use of the ENAT. Methods ENAT is a self-completed questionnaire comprising of 39 items grouped into 7 domains (managing pain, movement, feelings, arthritis process, treatments, self-help measures and support systems). Patients score the items by ticking 5-point Likert scales ranging from “not at all important ” = 1 to “extremely important ” = 5. The study was a quantitative design and recruited a convenience sample of 64 patients attending an outpatient clinic in Leeds. Patients completed the ENAT without any supervision. Sample and demographics The sample (n = 64) was comprised of 17 (26%) male and 47 (73%) female. Their median age was 64.3 (range 18-85 years) and median disease duration of 10 (range 1-38 years). Educational needs of patients with osteoarthriti