Study protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of user-driven intervention to prevent aggressive events in psychiatric services.

BACKGROUND: People admitted to psychiatric hospitals with a diagnosis of schizophrenia may display behavioural problems. These may require management approaches such as use of coercive practices, which impact the well-being of staff members, visiting families and friends, peers, as well as patients themselves. Studies have proposed that not only patients' conditions, but also treatment environment and ward culture may affect patients' behaviour. Seclusion and restraint could possibly be prevented with staff education about user-centred, more humane approaches. Staff education could also increase collaboration between patients, family members and staff, which may further positively affect treatment culture and lower the need for using coercive treatment methods. METHODS: This is a single-blind, two-arm cluster randomised controlled trial involving 28 psychiatric hospital wards across Finland. Units will be randomised to receive either a staff educational programme delivered by the team of researchers, or standard care. The primary outcome is the incidence of use of patient seclusion rooms, assessed from the local/national health registers. Secondary outcomes include use of other coercive methods (limb restraint, forced injection, and physical restraint), service use, treatment satisfaction, general functioning among patients, and team climate and employee turn-over (nursing staff). DISCUSSION: The study, designed in close collaboration with staff members, patients and their relatives, will provide evidence for a co-operative and user-centred educational intervention aiming to decrease the prevalence of coercive methods and service use in the units, increase the functional status of patients and improve team climate in the units. We have identified no similar trials. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02724748 . Registered on 25th of April 2016.

Content and frequency of writing on diabetes bulletin boards: does race make a difference?

BACKGROUND: Diabetes-related disparities are well documented among racial minority groups in the United States. Online programs hold great potential for reducing these disparities. However, little is known about how people of different races utilize and communicate in such groups. This type of research is necessary to ensure that online programs respond to the needs of diverse populations. OBJECTIVE: This exploratory study investigated message frequency and content on bulletin boards by race in the Internet Diabetes Self-Management Program (IDSMP). Two questions were asked: (1) Do participants of different races utilize bulletin boards with different frequency? (2) Do message, content, and communication style differ by race? If so, how? METHODS: Subjects were drawn by purposeful sampling from participants in an ongoing study of the effectiveness of the IDSMP. All subjects had completed a 6-week intervention that included the opportunity to use four diabetes-specific bulletin boards. The sample (N = 45) consisted of three groups of 15 participants, each who self-identified as American Indian or Alaskan Native (AI/AN), African American (AA), or Caucasian, and was stratified by gender, age, and education. Utilization was assessed by counting the number of messages per participant and the range of days of participation. Messages were coded blindly for message type, content, and communication style. Data were analyzed using descriptive and nonparametric statistics. RESULTS: In assessing board utilization, AAs wrote fewer overall messages (P = .02) and AIs/ANs wrote fewer action planning posts (P = .05) compared with Caucasians. AIs/ANs logged in to the program for a shorter time period than Caucasians (P = .04). For message content, there were no statistical (P

Mail-delivered arthritis self-management tool kit: a randomized trial and longitudinal followup.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effectiveness of an intervention Tool Kit of arthritis self-management materials to be sent once through the mail, and to describe the populations reached. METHODS: Spanish speakers (n = 335), non-Hispanic English-speaking African Americans (n = 156), and other non-Hispanic English speakers (n = 404) were recruited separately and randomized within each of the 3 ethnic/racial categories to immediately receive the intervention Tool Kit (n = 458) or to a 4-month wait-list control status (n = 463). At the end of 4 months, controls were sent the Tool Kit. All subjects were followed in a longitudinal study for 9 months. Self-administered measures included health status, health behavior, arthritis self-efficacy, medical care utilization, and demographic variables. Using analyses of covariance and t-tests, analyses were conducted for all participants and for Spanish- and English-language groups. RESULTS: At 4 months, comparing all intervention subjects with randomized wait-list controls, there were significant (P < 0.01) benefits in all outcomes except medical care utilization and self-rated health. The results were maintained at 9 months compared with baseline. On average, the Tool Kit reached persons ages 50-56 years with 12-15 years of schooling. There were few differences between English- and Spanish-language participants in either the effectiveness or reach variables. CONCLUSION: A mailed Arthritis Self-Management Tool Kit proved effective in improving health status, health behavior, and self-efficacy variables for up to 9 months. It also reached younger persons in both English- and Spanish-language groups and Spanish speakers with higher education levels than previous studies of the small-group Arthritis Self-Management Program.

The Expert Patients Programme online, a 1-year study of an Internet-based self-management programme for people with long-term conditions.

OBJECTIVES: Evaluate the effectiveness of an online self-management programme (EPP Online) for England residents with long-term conditions. METHODS: A prospective longitudinal study. Data were collected online at baseline, 6 and 12 months. The intervention was an asynchronous 6-week chronic-disease self-management programme offered online. We measured seven health status measures (health distress, self-rated health, illness intrusiveness, disability, fatigue, pain and shortness of breath), four behaviours (aerobic exercise, stretching exercise, stress management and communications with physician), and five utilization measures (GP visits, pharmacy visits, PT/OT visits, emergency visits and hospitalizations). We also measured self-efficacy and satisfaction with the health care system. RESULTS: A total of 568 completed baseline data: 546 (81%) completed 6 months and 443 (78%) completed 1 year. Significant improvements (p < 0.01) were found at 6 months for all variables except self-rated health, disability, stretching, hospitalizations and nights in hospital. At 12 months only decrease in disability, nights in hospital and hospitalizations were not significant with reduction in visits to emergency departments being marginally significant (p = 0.012). Both self-efficacy and satisfaction with the health care system improved significantly. DISCUSSION: The peer-led online programme conditions appears to decrease symptoms, improve health behaviours, self-efficacy and satisfaction with the health care system and reducing health care utilization up to 1 year.

The internet-based arthritis self-management program: a one-year randomized trial for patients with arthritis or fibromyalgia.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the efficacy of an Internet-based Arthritis Self-Management Program (ASMP) as a resource for arthritis patients unable or unwilling to attend small-group ASMPs, which have proven effective in changing health-related behaviors and improving health status measures. METHODS: Randomized intervention participants were compared with usual care controls at 6 months and 1 year using repeated-measures analyses of variance. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, or fibromyalgia and Internet and e-mail access (n = 855) were randomized to an intervention (n = 433) or usual care control (n = 422) group. Measures included 6 health status variables (pain, fatigue, activity limitation, health distress, disability, and self-reported global health), 4 health behaviors (aerobic exercise, stretching and strengthening exercise, practice of stress management, and communication with physicians), 5 utilization variables (physician visits, emergency room visits, chiropractic visits, physical therapist visits, and nights in hospital), and self-efficacy. RESULTS: At 1 year, the intervention group significantly improved in 4 of 6 health status measures and self-efficacy. No significant differences in health behaviors or health care utilization were found. CONCLUSION: The Internet-based ASMP proved effective in improving health status measures at 1 year and is a viable alternative to the small-group ASMP.

Does self-management lead to sustainable health benefits in people with arthritis? A 2-year transition study of 452 Australians.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the Arthritis Self-Management Course (ASMC) when applied in a nationwide context. METHODS: Four hundred fifty-two people who participated in the ASMC across Australian states took part in a longitudinal followup study. ASMC is a 6 week, 2 h group educational program designed to assist people with chronic illness to better manage their condition. Measures of program effectiveness included health status and service utilization. Data were collected on 3 occasions: before intervention (baseline) and 6 months and 2 years after the program. RESULTS: Several indicators of health status showed improvement at 6 months following the ASMC. These included reduction in pain (4%; p < 0.001), fatigue (3%; p < 0.01), and health distress (12%; p < 0.001) as well as increase in self-efficacy (6%; p < 0.001). Increased self-efficacy was a significant predictor of positive change in health status. Health-related behaviors such as aerobic exercise also increased, with the proportion of people who did little or no exercise decreasing by up to 8%. These changes were sustained at 2 years. There was an increase in use of analgesics at 6 months and an increase in use of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs at 2 years. No changes in healthcare utilization (physician visits, allied health visits, and hospitalizations) were observed. CONCLUSION: The ASMC is a widely applied program in which participants benefit through a reduction in pain, fatigue, and health distress. Although the absolute changes in health status are small, the low cost and wide application of the intervention suggests the program may have a substantial public health effect.

Internet-based chronic disease self-management: a randomized trial.

BACKGROUND: The small-group Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP) has proven effective in changing health-related behaviors and improving health statuses. An Internet-based CDSMP was developed to reach additional chronic-disease patients. OBJECTIVES: We sought to determine the efficacy of the Internet-based CDSMP. DESIGN: We compared randomized intervention participants with usual-care controls at 1 year. We compared intervention participants with the small-group CDSMP at 1 year. SUBJECTS: Nine-hundred fifty-eight patients with chronic diseases (heart, lung, or type 2 diabetes) and Internet and e-mail access were randomized to intervention (457) or usual care control (501). MEASURES: Measures included 7 health status variables (pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, illness intrusiveness, health distress, disability, and self-reported global health), 4 health behaviors (aerobic exercise, stretching and strengthening exercise, practice of stress management, and communication with physicians), 3 utilization variables (physician visits, emergency room visits, and nights in hospital), and self-efficacy. RESULTS: At 1 year, the intervention group had significant improvements in health statuses compared with usual care control patients. The intervention group had similar results to the small-group CDSMP participants. Change in self-efficacy at 6 months was found to be associated with better health status outcomes at 1 year. CONCLUSIONS: The Internet-based CDSMP proved effective in improving health statutes by 1 year and is a viable alternative to the small-group Chronic Disease Self Management Program.

Measurement of pain using the visual numeric scale.

OBJECTIVE: We introduce the English-language Visual Numeric Scale (VNS) for self-reported pain and examine its psychometric properties; we compare the VNS to the better known Visual Analog Scale (VAS). METHODS: We developed the VNS, which combines strong visual cues with an 11-point numeric rating scale. The VNS was administered to 2 sets of subjects with arthritis or chronic disease (N = 175, N = 192, respectively) and responses were examined. To compare the VNS to the VAS, we administered both scales to all subjects and used correlations to compare them to each other and to health distress and overall general health scores. A subset of respondents enrolled in an arthritis self-management program were given the VNS 4 months later, and change scores were used to test the sensitivity of the VNS. RESULTS: The VNS had means of 5.4 and 5.6 in the 2 samples, with distributions across the range of possible values. The VNS correlated well with the VAS (r = 0.85) and correlated slightly better than the VAS with the 2 independent health measures. The VNS was more likely to be completed than the VAS and there were fewer coding errors with the VNS. The VNS showed a significant (effect size 0.28) positive change for participants in a self-management course. CONCLUSION: The VNS appeared to be a valid measure. It was as successful as the VAS in measuring the underlying pain variable. It was easier to administer and code than the VAS, and was sensitive to change in pain.

A national dissemination of an evidence-based self-management program: a process evaluation study.

While evidence exists regarding the effectiveness of many health education interventions, few of these evidence-based programs have been systematically or widely disseminated. This paper reports on the dissemination of one such intervention, the 6-week peer-led Chronic Disease Self-Management Program, throughout a large health-care system, Kaiser Permanente. We describe the dissemination process and, using qualitative analysis of interviews and surveys, discuss the factors that aided and hindered this process and make recommendations for similar dissemination projects. Six years after the beginning of the dissemination process, the program is integrated in most of the Kaiser Permanente regions and is being offered to several thousand people a year.

Outcomes of border health Spanish/English chronic disease self-management programs.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the community-based Chronic Disease Self-management Program (CDSMP) and the Spanish-language version (Tomando Control de Su Salud) programs as delivered in settings along the Texas/New Mexico/Mexico border. The programs had proven effective in randomized trials, and the authors wished to determine if they would be as effective when administered by others to different populations. METHODS: The El Paso Diabetes Association administered the CDSMP and Tomando to 445 persons with chronic illness (two thirds with diabetes) in Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico. Four-month and 1-year outcomes were compared to baseline using t tests of change scores. Regression models were used to test whether baseline demographics and self-efficacy were associated with positive outcomes of the programs. RESULTS: Participants showed improvements in health behaviors, health status, and self-efficacy at both 4 month and 1 year. Baseline self-efficacy and 4-month change in self-efficacy were significantly associated with improved 1-year outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: The CDSMP and Tomando are effective when used in settings other than that of the original study for populations other than those for which they were initially developed.

Long-term randomized controlled trials of tailored-print and small-group arthritis self-management interventions.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to test the effectiveness of a mail-delivered, tailored self-management intervention (SMART) and to compare it with the classic Arthritis Self-Management Program (ASMP). METHODS: We performed 2 randomized controlled trials: 1) a study of 1090 participants randomized to SMART or USUAL CARE, and 2) a study of 341 participants randomized to SMART or ASMP. Dependent variables included disability, pain, depression, role function, global severity, doctor visits, and self-efficacy. SMART interventions were provided in months 0-18 and not reinforced. Results were assessed at 1, 2, and 3 years using analyses of covariance (ANCOVA). RESULTS: Compared with USUAL CARE, SMART participants at 1 year had decreased disability, improved role function, and increased self-efficacy (all P <0.01). At 2 years, decreases in global severity, doctor visits, and increases in self-efficacy (all P <0.01) were noted. At 3 years without reinforcement, no statistically significant effects remained. Compared with ASMP, SMART at 1 year had greater decreases in disability (P = 0.02) and increases in self-efficacy (P = 0.01). There were no differences at 2 years. At 3 years, role function (P = 0.04) and doctor visit (P = 0.03) were improved in ASMP as compared with SMART. Improvements from baseline were seen for nearly all variables in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: A mail-delivered arthritis self-management program, SMART, was similarly effective to the classic ASMP, with slightly better results in the first year and a slightly more rapid attenuation over the next 2 years. Results suggest that both programs are effective, and that the addition of a mail-delivered program could improve accessibility to arthritis self-management treatment.

Hispanic chronic disease self-management: a randomized community-based outcome trial.

BACKGROUND: In light of health disparities and the growing prevalence of chronic disease, there is a need for community-based interventions that improve health behaviors and health status. These interventions should be based on existing theory. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the health and utilization outcomes of a 6-week community-based program for Spanish speakers with heart disease, lung disease, or type 2 diabetes. METHOD: The treatment participants in this study (n = 327) took a 6-week peer-led program. At 4 months, they were compared with randomized wait-list control subjects (n = 224) using analyses of covariance. The outcomes for all the treatment participants were assessed at 1 year, as compared with baseline scores (n = 271) using t-tests. RESULTS: At 4 months, the participants, as compared with usual-care control subjects, demonstrated improved health status, health behavior, and self-efficacy, as well as fewer emergency room visits (p <.05). At 1 year, the improvements were maintained and remained significantly different from baseline condition. CONCLUSIONS: This community-based program has the potential to improve the lives of Hispanics with chronic illness while reducing emergency room use.

Self-management education: history, definition, outcomes, and mechanisms.

Self-management has become a popular term for behavioral interventions as well as for healthful behaviors. This is especially true for the management of chronic conditions. This article offers a short history of self-management. It presents three self-management tasks--medical management, role management, and emotional management--and six self-management skills--problem solving, decision making, resource utilization, the formation of a patient-provider partnership, action planning, and self-tailoring. In addition, the article presents evidence of the effectiveness of self-management interventions and posits a possible mechanism, self-efficacy, through which these interventions work. In conclusion the article discusses problems and solutions for integrating self-management education into the mainstream health care systems.

Self-care and the doctor-patient relationship.

OBJECTIVES: An important factor contributing to the steep rise in health care costs in the late 1960s was a reversal from the predominance of acute illness to that of chronic disease. Beginning with the philosophy of Illich and Levin, and the practical instruments of Fries, Sehnert, Vickery, and Ferguson, a new movement in patient self-care emerged. However, such programs were not integrated into organized medical care plans and though theoretically attractive had not yet proven to improve health or decrease costs. METHODS: The contributions to the self-care movement made under the intellectual guidance of Halsted Holman and the relevant literature produced are reviewed. RESULTS: While caring for chronic rheumatic diseases, Halsted Holman discovered that patient self-report was a more powerful predictor of outcome than were traditional biologic measures such as anti-DNA antibodies. Realizing the role that patient knowledge of their own disease course might play, he developed the Arthritis Self-Management course, a lay-led self-care program emphasizing patient participation. Holman and colleagues next elucidated the pivotal importance of Bandura's theory of self-efficacy in the improved patient outcomes initially observed. These self-care techniques were woven into the structure of the Midpeninsula Health Service, showing for the first time reductions in subsequent office visits and enhanced quality. In partnership with Kaiser Health Plan, these techniques showed improvements in self-efficacy health behaviors, status, and use in a randomized trial of more than 1,000 patients. CONCLUSION: Halsted Holman and colleagues have played a seminal role in the translation of academic self-care theory into community practice.

Can a Back Pain E-mail Discussion Group improve health status and lower health care costs?: A randomized study.

BACKGROUND: Given the high health care utilization, limited evidence for the effectiveness of back pain interventions, and the proliferation of e-mail health discussion groups, this study seeks to determine if the Internet can be used to improve health status and health care utilization for people with chronic back pain. METHODS: Randomized controlled trial. Participants included 580 people from 49 states with chronic back pain having at least 1 outpatient visit in the past year, no "red-flag" symptoms, and access to e-mail. Major exclusion criteria included continuous back pain for more than 90 days causing major activity intolerance and/or receiving disability payments. INTERVENTION: Closed, moderated, e-mail discussion group. Participants also received a book and videotape about back pain. Controls received a subscription to a non-health-related magazine of their choice. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Pain, disability, role function, health distress, and health care utilization. RESULTS: At 1-year treatment, subjects compared with controls demonstrated improvements in pain (P =.045), disability (P =.02), role function (P =.007), and health distress (P =.001). Physician visits for the past 6 months declined by 1.5 visits for the treatment group and by 0.65 visits for the control group (P =.07). Mean hospital days declined nearly 0.20 days for the treated group vs and increased 0.04 days for the control group (P =.24). CONCLUSIONS: An e-mail discussion group can positively affect health status and possibly health care utilization. It may have a place in the treatment of chronic recurrent back pain.