The Comprehensive Health Education Program for Overweight and Diabetic Older Adults With Knee Osteoarthritis

Friday, 26 July 2019

Yuwadee Saraboon, MNS
Boromrajjachonnee College of Nursing Nakhon Phanom, Nakhon Phanom University, Muang Distric, Nakhon Phanom Province, Thailand 48000 Tel: 66-4251-2196, Boromrajjachonnee College of Nursing Nakhon Phanom, Nakhon Phanom University, Boromrajjachonnee College of Nursing,, Thailand
Suparb Aree-Ue, PhD
Ramathibodi School of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand

Purpose: Health education is essential in improving self-care management (Ali, Kokorelias, MacDermid & Kloseck, 2018, Espanha, Marconcin, Campos, & Yázigi, 2017, Hunter et.al, 2018, Ganji, Pakniat, Armat Tabatabaeichehr, Mortazavi, 2018).yet less investigated in older adults with knee osteoarthritis who have type 2 diabetics and overweight or obesity. Evidence revealed that modification self-care behaviour focusing on knowledge, self-efficacy and outcome expectations is the key for reducing severity of OA progression especially in older adults with type 2 diabetes and overweight or obesity.(Marks, 2014, Mark, 2017, Marszalek, Price, Harvey, Driban, & Chenchen, 2017, Mielenz et. al., 2013, Mihalko, 2018).To enhance the quality of care; thus, this study aimed to explore the effects of a comprehensive health education program on knowledge of knee osteoarthritis, self-efficacy, and expectation of treatment outcomes of this population.

Methods: This quasi-experimental research was conducted in 119 overweight and diabetic older adults with knee osteoarthritis based on the diagnostic criteria of American College of Rheumatology. The participants joined the comprehensive health education program, including 1) providing health knowledge / information, 2) doing physical activities and 3) providing knowledge about food / nutrition. Data were collected before and after 2 weeks of the experiment by using knee osteoarthritis knowledge test, a questionnaire on self-efficacy and a questionnaire on expectation of treatment outcomes. Data were analyzed using Paired t-test.

Results: The results showed that after the experiment, the scores of the participants were: knowledge of knee osteoarthritis (Mean ± SD = 7.66 ± 1.17), self-efficacy (Mean ± SD = 26.07 ± 2.84) and expectation of treatment outcomes (Mean ± SD = 10.68 ± 4.33). They were significantly higher than those of before the experiment: knowledge about knee osteoarthritis (Mean ± SD = 6.68 ± 1.12), self-efficacy (Mean ± SD = 22.68 ± 4.33) and expectation of treatment outcomes (Mean ± SD = 8.98 ± 2.36) with statistical significance (P <.001, P <.001, P <.001, respectively).

Conclusion: Health professionals should use this program as a guideline to prevent and control knee osteoarthritis, especially with overweight and diabetic older adults with knee osteoarthritis. Applying effective health education program has more benefit in providing better care in overweight and diabetic older adults with knee osteoarthritis