Application of mind map in community health education of rheumatoid arthritis patients / 中华医学教育探索杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the application effects of mind map in community health education of rheumatoid arthritis patients. Methods 65 rheumatoid arthritis patients from Shunqing district of Nanchong City, Sichuan Province were randomly divided into an observation group (n=33) and a control group(n=32). Both groups received six-month health education. Health educators utilized mind map for the observation group and traditional health education for the control group. Before and after implementation, the two groups' mastery of disease knowledge was compared. During the period of 1, 3, 6 months, two groups received compliance evaluation respectively. During the study period, a questionnaire was given to the observation group to collect their attitude towards the mind map health education and their evaluation about it. Measurement data was represented by x ± s, using group t-test design information and single-sample t-test. χ2test was used in the count data for compar-ison between groups with test levelα=0.05. Results The scores of disease knowledge were as follows. Before implementation there was no statistically significant difference between two groups (P=0.921);After implementation, the score of observation group was(19.97±3.03), while the score of control group was(17.59±3.11), the difference was statistically significant(t=3.122,P=0.003). The difference of 1,3,6-month compliance scores was statistically significant(t=2.173,P=0.034;t=2.371,P=0.021;t=2.615,P=0.011) with the observation group's scores(18.24±3.44),(18.94±3.25),(19.64±3.06) respectively,and the control group's scores(16.47±3.13),(16.97±3.45),(17.44±3.70). Observation group's attitude questionnaire scores of each project are > 3, and there was significant difference be-tween two groups (P=0.000). Conclusion Mind mapping method can be used in community health education for rheumatoid arthritis patients to help patients master the knowledge of the disease and improve the compliance. Its effect is better than traditional methods.