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Wednesday, 9 July 2008
Learning Objective 1: identify the related factors for self-care behavior in COPD patients.
Learning Objective 2: identify the predictors for self-care behavior in COPD patients.
Purpose: Because chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an irreversible chronic condition, self-care behavior is important for the patient to maintain health and limit exacerbations and, subsequently, improve quality of life. The purpose of this study was to investigate the predictors of self-care behavior in COPD patients. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted to identify the predictors for self-care behavior in COPD patients. Three hundred and thirteen subjects were recruited from a teaching hospital in Northern Taiwan. The structured questionnaires including demographics, disease characteristics, functional status, health belief, self-efficacy, COPD knowledge, and self-care behavior were used to collect data. Data were analyzed by t-test, chi-square test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson's product-moment correlation, and stepwise multiple regression using the SPSS 15.0 software. The p<0.05 was considered as the significant level. Results: The results revealed that age, educational level, disease severity, smoking status, functional status, history of chronic disease, and COPD knowledge were the predictors of self-care behavior. The variables entered in the self-care behavior model accounted for 26.9% of the total variance. Conclusions: Further study might be needed to identify other factors having influence on self-care behavior in COPD patients.