Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2024 Feb 23;60(3):377.
doi: 10.3390/medicina60030377.

A Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Self-Management Intervention for Improving Patient-Reported Outcomes in Primary Care in Greece

Filothei Tsaousi  1 , Izolde Bouloukaki  1 , Antonios Christodoulakis  1   2 , Despo Ierodiakonou  3 , Nikos Tzanakis  4 , Ioanna Tsiligianni  1
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

A Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Self-Management Intervention for Improving Patient-Reported Outcomes in Primary Care in Greece

Filothei Tsaousi et al. Medicina (Kaunas). .

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Self-management programs are essential for increasing COPD patient participation and autonomy in making appropriate decisions about their chronic condition. The present study aimed to assess the impact of COPD self-management interventions on quality of life, functional status, patient education, depression, and anxiety in primary care. Materials and Methods: We conducted a randomized controlled trial recruiting patients with COPD (GOLD A and B) from four primary care centers in Crete, Greece, with one intervention group (n = 40) receiving self-management educational support and one control group (n = 80) receiving usual care. To measure quality of life, functional status, patient education, depression, and anxiety, we used patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) at baseline and 6 months post-intervention, including the Short-Form Health survey (SF-12), Clinical COPD Questionnaire (CCQ), mMRC, Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Beck Depression Inventory, Health Education Impact Questionnaire (HeiQ), and Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ). Results: At the end of the 6-month intervention, most PROMs improved significantly in the intervention group (p < 0.05) but did not show significant changes in the control group. The greatest improvements at follow-up compared to baseline measurements were observed for dyspnea (mMRC-38.6%), anxiety (BAI-35%), depression (BDI-20.2%), COPD health status (CCQ-34.1%), and the actively managing my health subscale of HLQ (23.5%). Conclusions: Our results suggest that a self-management intervention could be an effective strategy for improving PROMs in primary care. Although more research is needed to identify the long-term effects of such interventional programs, policymakers could implement similar programs to improve the overall health of these patients.

Keywords: COPD; primary healthcare; self-management.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Overview of recruitment, allocation, and randomization procedure.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Percentage change score in BAI, mMRC, CCQ, BDI, and SF-12 in the two groups before and after the end of the follow-up period.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Percentage change score in HeiQ subscales in the two groups before and after the end of the follow-up period.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Percentage change score in HLQ subscales in the two groups before and after the end of the follow-up period.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Viegi G., Pistelli F., Sherrill D.L., Maio S., Baldacci S., Carrozzi L. Definition, epidemiology and natural history of COPD. Eur. Respir. J. 2007;30:993–1013. doi: 10.1183/09031936.00082507. - DOI - PubMed
    1. WHO Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) [(accessed on 12 January 2024)]; Available online: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/chronic-obstructive-pul...
    1. OECD and European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies Greece: Country Health Profile. 2021. [(accessed on 10 January 2024)]. Available online: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-issues-migration-health/greece-coun....
    1. Beeh K.M., Glaab T., Stowasser S., Schmidt H., Fabbri L.M., Rabe K.F., Vogelmeier C.F. Characterisation of exacerbation risk and exacerbator phenotypes in the POET-COPD trial. Respir. Res. 2013;14:116. doi: 10.1186/1465-9921-14-116. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Montes de Oca M., Aguirre C., Lopez Varela M.V., Laucho-Contreras M.E., Casas A., Surmont F. Exacerbations and health care resource utilization in patients with airflow limitation diseases attending a primary care setting: The PUMA study. Int. J. Chron. Obstruct. Pulmon. Dis. 2016;11:3059–3067. doi: 10.2147/COPD.S120776. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

Supplementary concepts