Effects of a peer education program in elderly patients with osteoporosis in the community

Abstract

Objective To explore the impact of peer education on the knowledge,self-efficacy and behavior of elderly patients with osteoporosis in community. Methods Two communities in Urumqi were sampled by convenient sampling method,and were randomly divided into control community and intervention community. Each community included 73 elderly patients with osteoporosis. In contrast to the community to give regular health education, intervention community to give peer education on the basis of regular health education. The knowledge, self-efficacy and health related behavior scores of osteoporosis were compared between the two groups before and after the intervention. Results Before intervention, the intervention group′s scores (12.60 ± 2.57, 55.74 ± 2.07, 6.08 ± 1.44) about osteoporosis related knowledge, self-efficacy and health related behavior were like and the control group(12.53 ± 2.90, 55.75 ± 2.05, 6.12 ± 1.04) points. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups (P > 0.05). The post-intervention intervention group(17.02 ± 1.56, 55.74 ± 2.07, 7.01 ± 1.19) scored higher than the control group (15.07 ± 2.02, 55.75 ± 2.05, 6.23 ± 1.35) score on knowledge, self-efficacy, and health-related behavior related to osteoporosis. The difference was statistically significant (P<0.01). Conclusion Peer education model can effectively improve the knowledge, self-efficacy and health-related behavior of the elderly patients with osteoporosis in the community. Key words: Community; Aged; Osteoporosis; Peer education