Effect of an Education Programme for Patients With Osteoarthritis in Primary Care - a Randomized Controlled Trial

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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Osteoarthritis is a common disease. The core treatment is often patient education. The aim of this study is therefore to study the effect of a patient education programme for patients with osteoarthritis in primary health care.

Detailed Description
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Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative disease, considered to be one of the major national diseases that cause suffering for affected patients and costs for society.The predominant symptoms are pain, stiffness and impaired quality of life, often together with psychological distress. Treatment often consists of medication. Later in the disease, when the joint is destroyed, joint replacement surgery commonly occurs. Physical exercises aimed to increase muscle strength, endurance, proprioception and stability have proved to influence cartilage as well as function, symptoms and quality of life positively. Physical exercise may also reduce the need for hospital care after knee joint replacement. Research suggests that patient education is feasible and valuable in terms of improvements in quality of life, in function, in well-being and improved coping . Accordingly, guidelines recommend education as a core treatment for osteoarthritis. Patient education programmes are often defined as a planned learning experience to influence a patient's knowledge and health behaviour [13]. There are various types of patient education. It can be given by a physician as part of consultation, in small groups or delivered by a multi-disciplinary team [13, 14] Since 1994, Primary Health Care in Malmö has used a patient education programme directed towards OA. The programme has been developed by physiotherapists and occupational therapists in primary health care and has been implemented in the ordinary work.

Conditions
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Osteoarthritis in the Hip, Knee and Hand

Intervention / Treatment
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* Other: Patient education programme


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Clinical diagnosis of osteoarthritis Exclusion Criteria: Must be able to speak and understand swedish
Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Treatment
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Patient education programme<br>Patients with osteoarthritis who were referred to the patient education programme.The patients followed the patient education programme. | Other: Patient education programme<br>* The intervention consisted of five group sessions, three hours for each session. The focus was on self-efficacy. Eight to ten patients participated in the programme at the same time.<br>|
| No Intervention: Control<br>Patients randomized to control group | |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| EQ5D |  | At baseline and at follow-up after 6 months | 
| Arthritis self-efficacy scale |  | At baseline and at follow up after 6 months | 
| One-leg rising from sitting to standing |  | At baseline and at follow up after 6 months | 
| Grip Ability Test |  | At baseline and at follow up after 6 months | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Bipedal rising from sitting to standing |  | At baseline and at follow up after 6 months | 
| One-legged jump |  | At baseline and at follow up after 6 months | 
| Standing on one leg with eyes open and standing on one leg with eyes closed |  | At baseline and at follow up after 6 months | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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osteoarthritis, patient education, function, physio therapy