Daniel Hernandez, MD: Culturally Tailored Interventions for Hispanic Patients with RA

Daniel Hernandez, MD, explains why the patient perspective is crucial, particularly among Hispanic patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), in his American College of Rheumatology Convergence 2022 presentation “Patient Perspective of Unique Support and Education Needs of Latinx/Latino(a)/Hispanic Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients: Implications for a Culturally Tailored and Disease Specific Intervention.” Hernandez is the Director of Medical Affairs and Hispanic Outreach at Global Healthy Living Foundation/CreakyJoints.

Hernandez explained that the study focuses on important factors that the culture itself values, highlighting respect, being personable, trusting those around you, and creating a network, especially that of family members, which a patient can rely on.

“Those concepts are very easy to ignore,” Hernandez stated. “But if you put it front and center, you interview patients, you make sure and you validate that, and if you focus on these types of concepts, you are going to get a more engaging audience.”

Investigators used interviews, performed in a patient’s preferred language and transcribed verbatim, to better uncover and understand what matters most to this patient population. They then used that information via a set of tools as well as personal insight to reach this goal.

The next steps include interviewing more patients and modifying their strategies for patients to get the most value from this research, ultimately increasing quality of life through their content.

Hernandez is also affiliated with CreakyJoints Español.