title: Patients' perceptions, attitudes, and experiences about the management of mild-to-moderate ulcerative colitis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To establish the perceptions, attitudes, experiences, and satisfaction with clinical management of ulcerative colitis (UC) patients, particularly in aspects related to treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  A qualitative, descriptive, exploratory study. A discussion group was performed in patients who were in remission according to the criteria of the Mayo index, who had never taken biologics or corticosteroids in the past year. They were selected by: course (mild/moderate), time since onset (under 5 years/ 5 to 9 years/ 10 years or more), follow-up area (primary care [PC]-hospital/PC-specialist care/hospital), treatment (yes/no), UC care unit (yes/no), belongs to patient associations (yes/no) and sex. A descriptive-interpretative content analysis was performed to detect emerging categories, providing them with an explanatory framework.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Diagnostic delay was detected due to lack of clinical suspicion from PC and delayed diagnostic tests. For follow-up, patients prefer care on demand, channeled through remote care, which helps to resolve questions, problems with treatment, or when a relapse occurs, minimizing visits to the hospital. They demand more information, both about UC and treatment. The expectations about treatments are limited, so they mainly requested efficacy and safety.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest the importance of developing strategies to facilitate care on demand and remote care, and to investigate on effective and safe treatments to minimize the detriment to quality of life of patients. These strategies should guarantee fast care and, together with safe and effective treatments, optimize the management of UC patients.
authors.affiliation: Crohn-Colitis Care Unit, Hospital Universitario Vall d'Hebron, Ciberehd, Paseo Vall d'Hebron 119, 08035, Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: fcasellas@vhebron.net.
authors.forename: Francesc
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Casellas
authors.affiliation: Gastroenterology Department, Hospital Universitario Son Espases, Carretera de Valldemossa, 79, 07120 Palma de Mallorca, Islas Baleares, Spain. Electronic address: daniel.ginard@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Daniel Ginard
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Vicens
authors.affiliation: Gastroenterology Department, Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias, C/Celestino Villamil, s/n, 33006 Oviedo, Asturias, Spain. Electronic address: sriestram7@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Sabino Riestra
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Menéndez
authors.affiliation: Advanced Research Techniques in Health Services (TAISS), C/Cambrils 49, 28034 Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: nalfaro@taiss.com.
authors.forename: Noelia Alfaro
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Oliver
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D019468:Disease Management; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010349:Patient Compliance; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011788:Quality of Life; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
keywords: Management of the disease; Patient satisfaction; Quality of life; Treatment of the disease; Ulcerative colitis