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. 2017 Dec 8;3(4):00115-2016.
doi: 10.1183/23120541.00115-2016. eCollection 2017 Oct.

The effectiveness of a nurse-led illness perception intervention in COPD patients: a cluster randomised trial in primary care

Saskia W M Weldam  1 , Marieke J Schuurmans  2 , Pieter Zanen  1 , Monique J W M Heijmans  3 , Alfred P E Sachs  4 , Jan-Willem J Lammers  1
Affiliations

The effectiveness of a nurse-led illness perception intervention in COPD patients: a cluster randomised trial in primary care

Saskia W M Weldam et al. ERJ Open Res. .

Abstract

The new COPD-GRIP (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease - Guidance, Research on Illness Perception) intervention translates evidence regarding illness perceptions and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) into a nurse intervention to guide COPD patients and to improve health outcomes. It describes how to assess and discuss illness perceptions in a structured way. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of the intervention in primary care. A cluster randomised controlled trial was conducted within 30 general practices and five home-care centres, including 204 COPD patients. 103 patients were randomly assigned to the intervention group and 101 patients to the usual-care group. To assess differences, repeated multilevel linear mixed modelling analyses were used. Primary outcome was change in health status on the Clinical COPD Questionnaire (CCQ) at 9 months. Secondary outcomes were HRQoL, daily activities, health education impact and changes in illness perceptions. There was no significant difference between the groups in the CCQ at 9 months. We found a significant increase in health-directed behaviour at 6 weeks (p=0.024) and in personal control (p=0.005) at 9 months in favour of the intervention group. The COPD-GRIP intervention, practised by nurses, did not improve health status in COPD patients in primary care. However, the intervention has benefits in improving the ability to control the disease and health-related behaviours in the short term. Therefore, taking illness perceptions into account when stimulating healthy behaviours in COPD patients should be considered. Further study on influencing the health status and HRQoL is needed.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: Disclosures can be found alongside this article at openres.ersjournals.com

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Flow chart of the study. PCP: primary care practice; HCS: home care service; COPD-GRIP: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease – Guidance, Research on Illness Perception.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Clinical COPD Questionnaire (CCQ) scores over time. Data are presented as mean (95% CI).
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Mean health-directed behaviour scores over time. Data are presented as mean (95% CI).
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Mean Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (B-IPQ) personal control scores over time. Data are presented as mean (95% CI)
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