ABSTRACT
Objective To evaluate the effects of group medical visits and peer education on the compliance behaviors of patients with acne vulgaris,and to explore the effective health education approaches for patients with acne vulgaris.Methods A total of 80 patients with acne vulgaris were enrolled from Hospital of Dermatology,Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences during December 2016.They were randomly and equally divided into 2 groups:intervention group receiving conventional health education combined with group medical visits and peer education,and control group receiving conventional health education alone.At week 1,2 and 4 after the intervention,the compliance behaviors were compared between the 2 groups.Results Totally,18 patients were lost to the follow-up due to refusals and non-response,and 32 patients in the intervention group and 30 patients in the control group finally completed the study.At week 1,2 and 4 after the intervention,the scores of compliance behaviors were significantly higher in the intervention group (83.6 ± 9.3,85.9 ± 9.1,91.2 ± 8.4 respectively) than in the control group (77.1 ± 7.3,77.1 ± 8.6,79.1 ± 10.2 respectively;all P ＜ 0.05).Moreover,the scores of compliance behaviors significantly increased over time (P ＜ 0.05),and there was a significant interaction effect between the intervention methods and treatment duration (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion Health education approaches including group medical visits and peer education can improve the compliance behaviors of patients with acne vulgaris.