Table 2

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria

• aged 18 years or over

• cognitive dysfunction

• diagnosis of hip or knee OA*

• previous participation in an ASMP or similar program

• referred to an orthopaedic surgeon or rheumatologist for hip or knee OA

• placement on an orthopaedic waiting list for joint replacement surgery or scheduled joint replacement surgery

• sufficient English language skills to self-complete written questionnaires

• a reasonable expectation that all 6 sessions of the ASMP could be attended if randomised to the intervention group

*A diagnosis of hip or knee OA will be extracted from radiology reports; where this information is not stated explicitly, medical records and radiographs will be used to diagnose OA according to American College of Rheumatology criteria [17, 18]

Osborne et al. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders 2006 7:90   doi:10.1186/1471-2474-7-90