A smartphone-based supportive counseling on health anxiety and acceptance of disability in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus patients: A randomized clinical trial.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the effects of a supportive counseling via the smart phone on the health anxiety, and acceptance of disability in the patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. METHODS: The present study was a randomized clinical trial with pre-post design. Randomly dividing 124 patients into experimental and control groups. Before and after the intervention, all patients answered the health anxiety and disability acceptance questionnaires. For eight weeks, the trial group received remote counseling help using the WhatsApp platform. RESULTS: All 124 patients randomized into groups, completed follow-up which were analyzed. By the end of 8th week, the level of health anxiety (MD=11.34, P < 0.001) of the experiment group was significantly lower than the control group, while the level of acceptance of disability (MD=91.42, P < 0.001) of experiment group was significantly higher than the control group. CONCLUSION: Smartphone-based supportive counseling may help people with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus manage their symptoms better, and live better by reducing health worry and increasing acceptance of impairment. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Virtual supportive counseling can assist healthcare professionals to optimize the potential of education and support processes.

The effects of continuous care model using a smartphone application on adherence to treatment and self-efficacy among patients with multiple sclerosis.

BACKGROUND: Adherence to disease-modifying therapy is important in patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) to increase the positive outcomes and improve the quality of life. This study aimed to determine the effects of Continuous Care Model (CCM) using a smartphone application on adherence to treatment and self-efficacy among MS patients. METHODS: This quasi-experimental study with pre/posttest design was conducted on 72 MS patients in Shiraz, Iran from June 2020 to August 2021. The samples were randomly assigned to intervention (n = 36) and control (n = 36) groups. In the intervention group, the CCM using a smartphone application was implemented during two months. However, no intervention was performed for the control group. The data were collected using the self-report Multiple Sclerosis Treatment Adherence Questionnaire (MS-TAQ) and MS Self-Efficacy Scale (MSSS) at baseline and two and four months after the intervention. RESULTS: The results showed an improvement in adherence to treatment and self-efficacy in the intervention group compared to the control group after implementing the virtual CCM and at the two-month follow-up (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Implementing the CCM using a smartphone application resulted in improvements in the MS patients' adherence to treatment and self-efficacy. It can be concluded that providing care using an interactive multimedia application can improve the outcomes as well as patients' satisfaction, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, this approach is recommended to be used for nurses, healthcare providers, and clinicians.