Five Cities in 10 Days: Recruiting AxSpA Patients for In-Person Interviews
Treatment can make a moderate-to-severe patient look mild.
A pharmaceutical company wanted to understand the physical, psychological and treatment needs of people living with axial spondyloarthritis (AxSpA), at home, at work and in public.
The brief called for 60-minute in-depth interviews across Chicago, New York, London, Paris and Berlin, over seven research days.
Key screening criteria:
· Diagnosed with AxSpA at least six months ago
· Currently managed by a rheumatologist
· Moderate to severe at diagnosis
· On prescription therapy, with about half on an advanced therapy
· Aged 18 to 65
· No significant comorbidities, such as cancer or serious mental health conditions
One quota addressed a specific problem. Patients who were moderate to severe at diagnosis may now appear mild because their treatment is working. To keep the focus on significant disease, no more than 40% of patients per interview day could currently be considered mild.
Soft quotas covered a mix of age, income and gender, with a target of roughly 60% men. They also sought at least three patients with inflammatory bowel disease linked to their AxSpA and at least five with uveitis.
Before their interview, patients completed a homework exercise, choosing images that showed how AxSpA had affected their lives. Moderators then built on these with scenario and good-day/bad-day exercises.
The design aimed to capture lived experience across markets, not just clinical history.
