The Effect of Self-Help Program for Promotion of Health for Arthritis Patients at various Health Centers in Seoul

서울시 보건소에서 실시한 관절염환자 자조관리과정 평가

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of self-help programs which had been conducted at each health center of Seoul using the protocol developed by Korean Rheumatology Health Professionals Society(KRHPS). This program was developed to initially increase self-efficacy, and then to decrease the symptoms and finally to increase the functions of the patients. This study was designed as one group pretest-posttest design. Data were collected by self-administered questionnaires for 140 out of 303 program participants, and only 102 subjects were analyzed because of missing values. The subjects were composed of 25.5% of rheumatoid arthritis patients and 60.8% of degenerative arthritis patients. The results showed that arthritis self-help program was effective in increasing self-efficacy and then improving pain, fatigue, depression, and activities of daily living. But the number of pain sites was not decreased. This result explains that degenerative arthritis patients composed of more than half of the participants has less number of pain sites than rheumatoid arthritis, and their pain was not completely relieved. As a result, it was confirmed that arthritis patients' physical and psychological states can be improved by self-help program in the community. These findings emphasize the implication of this program for each institute to promote health of arthritis patients.