ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: To evaluate the effectiveness of the Taipei Osteoarthritis Program (TOAP) for community elderly persons who suffer from knee OA. METHODS: A quasi-experimental study was conducted between January 2008 and December 2008. Two hundred and five community-dwelling individuals aged 67±10 years with knee OA were recruited from four districts in Taipei City and randomized. By a clustered randomization according to the districts, 114 participants were in the intervention group (IG) with a 4-week TOAP program and 91 participants were in the control group (CG) with routine care. The main outcome measures included health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and disability level, which were assessed by the Short Form-36 Taiwan Version (T-SF36) and the Western Ontario McMaster Universities Arthritis Index Taiwan Version (T-WOMAC), respectively, and were repeatedly measured at the baseline, post invention (4 weeks after baseline), and follow-up (8 weeks after baseline). RESULTS: Subjects in the IG increased their changes of GH scores from baseline to post-intervention and follow-up, which were significantly more than those of subjects in the CG (p=0.011 and 0.005, respectively). Significant difference of changes was also found at follow-up for the mental component scale between the groups (p=0.013). There was no change in disability level. CONCLUSIONS: The arthritis self-management program improved the psychological outcomes among the participants, but it had no significant effect on a self-reported disability level.
Subject(s)
Osteoarthritis, Knee/therapy , Quality of Life/psychology , Self Care/methods , Activities of Daily Living , Aged , Exercise Therapy/methods , Female , Humans , Male , Osteoarthritis, Knee/psychology , Patient Education as Topic/methods , Self Care/psychologyABSTRACT
AIM: The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a self-management programme among osteoarthritis knee sufferers. BACKGROUND: Osteoarthritis of the knee is a major cause of loss of function and is common in the older people. A self-management programme is an effective way to increase arthritis self-efficacy, and helps with mastering self-management practices. METHOD: This study was carried out from January 2008 to December 2008 and included 205 participants, with 114 in the intervention group and 91 in the control group. The 4-week trial was followed by an 8-week follow-up assessment. The outcome measures included assessments of arthritis self-efficacy, pain beliefs, unplanned medical consultations, pain days and disability days using the Mann-Whitney U-test and Friedman test. FINDINGS: At post-intervention, significant differences were found in pain beliefs (P<0·001) and pain days (P<0·004). At 8-week follow-up, there was a significant improvement in arthritis self-efficacy: pain and other symptoms subscales (P<0·001 and 0·049, respectively), pain beliefs (P<0·001) and number of unplanned medical consultations (P<0·010). CONCLUSION: The study supports the hypothesis that a self-management programme enhances arthritis-related self-efficacy and pain beliefs. A decrease in the number of unplanned medical consultations, pain days and disability days suggests that the programme might help reduce healthcare costs. This programme has introduced a significant result about self-efficacy and self-management to a chronic disease population in Taiwan. In short, there were great beneficial effects on self-management among persons who are affected by knee osteoarthritis.
