2 days at the sea-side! Effects on anxiety and depression scores, Health Locus of Control (HLOC) and Patient’s Global Impression of Change (PGIC) in COPD patients.

Abstract

Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) improves function, health-related quality of life and anxiety-depression in COPD patients but long term maintenance is poor. Aim and methods: This study aimed to investigate the HLOC (evaluated by the Multi-dimensional Health Locus of Control scale (MHLC)), Hospital Anxiety and Depression (HAD) scores and the PGIC score in COPD patients undergoing PR program before and after 48 hours at the Belgian coast. The multidisciplinary team (doctors, physiotherapists, nurses, psychologist, social worker and dietician) organized educational sessions and some outdoor activities (walking, tai-chi, bicycle ride…). The long term goal was to improve empowerment and self-management and to evaluate the influence of these different elements. Results: 23 patients completed the different questionnaires. We found: - A significant decrease in the HAD scores (anxiety decreases from 9 to 8 points, p - More than 75 % of the patients had a 60 % global impression of change. - The HLOC scores showed that patients were as much internal as external in term of locus of control and the scores showed no significant change during the study. Conclusion: A 2 days program at the seaside with educational sessions and outdoor activities improves HAD scores in COPD patients. The majority of the patients also describe a big impression of positive change. Further works are needed to measure the correlations between the HLOC, the HAD scores and the self-related quality of life.