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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.

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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

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