Paper: A Self-Management Group Interventions for Older Adults with Arthritis-Related Pain: Look at Individual Responses (19th International Nursing Research Congress Focusing on Evidence-Based Practice)

Monday, 7 July 2008: 1:15 PM

Asphodel Yang, PhD, RN , College of Nursing, Central Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taichung, Taiwan

Gail Davis, EdD, RN , College of Nursing, Texas Woman's University, Denton, TX

Learning Objective 1: Identify self-managment approaches for older adults with arthritis-related pain

Learning Objective 2: Identify the factors associated with self-managment outcomes for older adults with arthritis-related pain

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the observed changes on selected health outcomes from initiation of a nurse-guided pain management program (NGPM) to three months post-completion for each of the elder participants with arthritis-related pain. METHODS: A one group, pretest-posttest repeated measures design was used with participants serving as their own controls to determine the effects on five specific outcomes (i.e. physical health, mental health, chronic pain intensity, chronic pain experience, and chronic pain self-efficacy) of older adults with arthritis-related pain. Measures were obtained pre-intervention, immediate post-intervention and 3 months post-intervention. Twenty-five older adults, who reported to have arthritis-related pain for at least 3 months, were recruited from a local senior center and an independent living retirement community; 16 completed the study. RESULTS: Both MANOVA and MANCOVA analyses suggested that older adults with arthritis-related pain who participated in the NGPM program showed significant improvement. However, individuals' change slopes indicated that individual variability existed among participants' responses to the intervention, with change trajectories demonstrating nonlinear trends. CONCLUSIONS: The individuals' differing responses to the NGPM program provide valuable information for the clinician that should be helpful in guiding management approaches to pain management. Clinicians should attend to the individuals' responses while providing self-management group interventions for older adults with arthritis-related pain.

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