Investigating the Effect of an Orem-Based Self-Care Educative Supportive Nursing System on the Quality of Life of Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis

Abstract

Background: Knee osteoarthritis is an important age-related public health issue characterized by progressive loss of articular cartilage and as a result functional impairment, disability and reduced quality of life. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of an Orem-based self-care educative supportive nursing system on the quality of life in patients with knee osteoarthritis. Methods: This semi-experimental study was conducted on 130 patients with knee osteoarthritis, who were selected as available samples and randomly assigned to the intervention and control groups. In addition to demographic characteristics, information related to patients’ quality of life was collected using EQ-5D questionnaire. With the help of Oram’s health status checklist, first, self-care deficiencies were determined as nursing diagnoses. Then, based on that, the educational support system that includes education, consultation and follow-up of the patients were done for the patients of the intervention group. The interventions were carried out during 6 weeks (every week a session of 45-60 min). Data were collected before and three months after the intervention. The data were analysed using SPSS21 software through descriptive and inferential statistics (p=0.05). Results: The overall score of quality of life in the intervention and control groups before the intervention was 48.4±13.1 and 45.8±12.9, respectively; however, it increased to 70.2±19.4 and 61.8±17.6 after the intervention, respectively. In other words, there was a significant difference between the mean score of quality of life dimensions in the intervention and control groups after the intervention (p<0.05). Conclusion: According to the results of this study, Orem’s self-care model has had a positive significant effect on subjects’ quality of life.