Objectives. This study evaluated the effectiveness (changes in health behaviors, health status, and health service utilization) of a self-management program for chronic disease designed for use with a heterogeneous group of chronic disease patients. It also explored the differential effectiveness of the intervention for subjects with specific diseases and comorbidities.
Methods. The study was a six-month randomized, controlled trial at community-based sites comparing treatment subjects with wait-list control subjects. Participants were 952 patients 40 years of age or older with a physician-confirmed diagnosis of heart disease, lung disease, stroke, or arthritis. Health behaviors, health status, and health service utilization, as determined by mailed, self-administered questionnaires, were measured.
Results. Treatment subjects, when compared with control subjects, demonstrated improvements at 6 months in weekly minutes of exercise, frequency of cognitive symptom management, communication with physicians, self-reported health, health distress, fatigue, disability, and social/role activities limitations. They also had fewer hospitalizations and days in the hospital. No differences were found in pain/physical discomfort, shortness of breath, or psychological well-being.
Conclusions. An intervention designed specifically to meet the needs of a heterogeneous group of chronic disease patients, including those with comorbid conditions, was feasible and beneficial beyond usual care in terms of improved health behaviors and health status. It also resulted in fewer hospitalizations and days of hospitalization.
As the average age of our population increases,
so does the prevalence of chronic disease. It is
now estimated that people aged 60 years and
older have, on average, 2.2 chronic conditions.1
Chronic disease is responsible for almost 70% of
health care expenditures.2
There are many examples of how patient education
programs for specific chronic conditions
have increased healthful behaviors, improved
health status, and/or decreased health care costs
of their participants. An excellent bibliography of
more than 400 such patient education studies has
been published recently.3 To date, few of the studies
have dealt with more than one disease or with
the problems of comorbidity. Rather, each patient
education intervention has been disease-specific.
With the emergence of chronic disease as the
largest threat to health status and the largest
cause of health care expenditures, the potential
role of patient self-management assumes increased
importance. If benefits can be shown
from an inexpensive, replicable self-management
program, such programs might be a useful part of
a therapeutic regime. Our study explored this
possibility. It differed from previous self-management
studies in that it: (1) placed subjects with
different chronic diseases and different combinations
of comorbid diseases in the same program at
the same time; (2) utilized a randomized, controlled
design; and (3) measured outcomes in terms
of behaviors, health status, and health service
utilization. Although former patient self-management
education studies had one or more of these
attributes, none have had all three.
The objectives of the study were to evaluate the
effectiveness (changes in health behaviors, health
status, and health service utilization) of a self-management
program for chronic disease designed
for use with a heterogeneous group of
chronic disease patients and to explore the differential
effectiveness of the intervention for subjects
with specific diseases and comorbidities. The
experience during 6 months with the 952 patients
with heart disease, lung disease, stroke, or arthritis
is reported here.
Methods
The Chronic Disease Self-Management Program
(CDSMP) is a community-based patient
self-management education course. Three principal
assumptions underlie the CDSMP: (1) patients
with different chronic diseases have similar
self-management problems and disease-related
tasks; (2) patients can learn to take responsibility
for the day-to-day management of their disease(
s); and (3) confident, knowledgeable patients
practicing self-management will experience
improved health status and will utilize fewer
health care resources. Other assumptions that
shaped the program were that: (1) patient self-management
education should be inexpensive
and widely available; (2) trained lay persons with
chronic conditions could effectively deliver a
structured patient education program; and (3) such lay instructors would be acceptable to both
patients and health professionals. There is research
evidence that positive role models (in this
case, lay leaders with similar backgrounds and
disease problems) increase patients'self-efficacy
or confidence in their ability to manage their disease.
4
Needs A msrtment
The content and methodology of the CDSMP
were based on two needs assessments. The first
was a literature review of existing chronic disease
patient education programs.5 The purpose of this
review was to identify common topics taught
across chronic disease courses. In a review of
more than 70 articles, the authors found 12 common
tasks: recognizing and acting on symptoms,
using medication correctly, managing emergencies,
maintaining nutrition and diet, maintaining
adequate exercise, giving up smoking, using stress
reduction techniques, interacting effectively with
health care providers, using community resources,
adapting to work, managing relations
with significant others, and managing psychological
responses to illness.
The second needs assessment sought information
from 11 focus groups.6 Participants included
people older than 40 years with chronic diseases.
Participants were invited to: (1) describe their disease(
s) and what they thought caused them; (2)
explain their feelings and beliefs about getting
older; (3) describe the physical, social, and emotional
impacts of chronic disease on their lives
and the lives of their families; (4) describe how
they coped with the problems caused by their disease(
s); and (5) elaborate on their fears, hopes,
and wishes for the future. Theme analysis from
these groups' responses was used to shape both
the content of the CDSMP and the process of instruction.
Chronic Disease Self-Management
Program Design
The topics covered in the CDSMP included: exercise;
use of cognitive symptom management
techniques; nutrition; fatigue and sleep management;
use of community resources; use of medications;
dealing with the emotions of fear, anger,
and depression; communication with others including
health professionals; problem-solving;
and decision-making. The content of the coursehas been published as Living a Healthy Life with
Chronic Conditions.7 This book was used as a text
for course participants.
The process of teaching the course is based on
Self-Efficacy Theory. It incorporates strategies
suggested by Bandura to enhance self-efficacy.8
These include weekly action planning and feedback,
modeling of behaviors and problem-solving
by participants for one another, reinterpretation
of symptoms by giving many possible causes for
each symptom as well as several different management
techniques, group problem-solving, and
individual decision-making. The leaders act more
as facilitators than as lecturers. For example,
rather than prescribing specific behavior changes,
they assist participants in making management
choices and achieving success in reaching self-selected
goals. The process is documented in a detailed
protocol, Chronic Disease Self-Management
Leader's Manual.9
Each course had 10 to 15 participants of mixed
ages and diagnoses, including family members if
they wished to attend. Each course was taught by
a pair of trained, volunteer lay leaders. The 87
leaders received 20 hours of training with the detailed
teaching manual. They ranged in age from
21 to 80 years (82% were older than 40).9 Seventy-
one percent of the leaders had one or more
chronic diseases, 23% were health professionals,
and 15% were students. Few had previous experience
in health education. On average, leaders
taught 2.4 courses. The program was given in
seven weekly 2.5-hour sessions.
Entry Criteria
To enter the study, subjects had their physician
confirm a diagnosis of chronic lung disease
(asthma, chronic bronchitis, or emphysema),
heart disease (coronary artery disease or congestive
heart failure), stroke (completed cerebrovascular
accident with neurologic handicap and normal
mentation), or chronic arthritis. In addition to
at least one of the above conditions, they could
have other conditions. Patients with compromised
mentation, cancer patients who received
chemotherapy or radiation within the past year,
and persons younger than 40 years of age were
excluded. Subjects'physicians and hospitals were
not informed as to their study status (treatment or
control).
Recruitment and Randomization
Subjects were recruited using public service announcements
in the mass media, referrals from
flyers left in physicians' offices and community
clinics, posters at senior citizen centers, announcements
in health maintenance organization
(HMO) patient newsletters, and referrals
from county government employers. Before filling
out their initial questionnaire and before randomization,
all subjects were told they would
either receive the course immediately or after
serving as a control for 6 months.
To assure that the program would be easily accessible
to patients, it was held in multiple community
sites in a four county area. Programs were
held in churches, senior and community centers,
public libraries, and health care facilities. In addition,
programs were planned at varied times for
the convenience of patients including late mornings,
early afternoons, evenings, and Saturday
mornings. The project was approved by the institutional
Committee for the Protection of Human
Subjects in Research. All participants gave written
informed consent. After each subject's physicia
Objectives. This study evaluated the effectiveness (changes in health behaviors, health status, and health service utilization) of a self-management program for chronic disease designed for use with a heterogeneous group of chronic disease patients. It also explored the differential effectiveness of the intervention for subjects with specific diseases and comorbidities.
Methods. The study was a six-month randomized, controlled trial at community-based sites comparing treatment subjects with wait-list control subjects. Participants were 952 patients 40 years of age or older with a physician-confirmed diagnosis of heart disease, lung disease, stroke, or arthritis. Health behaviors, health status, and health service utilization, as determined by mailed, self-administered questionnaires, were measured.
Results. Treatment subjects, when compared with control subjects, demonstrated improvements at 6 months in weekly minutes of exercise, frequency of cognitive symptom management, communication with physicians, self-reported health, health distress, fatigue, disability, and social/role activities limitations. They also had fewer hospitalizations and days in the hospital. No differences were found in pain/physical discomfort, shortness of breath, or psychological well-being.
Conclusions. An intervention designed specifically to meet the needs of a heterogeneous group of chronic disease patients, including those with comorbid conditions, was feasible and beneficial beyond usual care in terms of improved health behaviors and health status. It also resulted in fewer hospitalizations and days of hospitalization.
As the average age of our population increases,
so does the prevalence of chronic disease. It is
now estimated that people aged 60 years and
older have, on average, 2.2 chronic conditions.1
Chronic disease is responsible for almost 70% of
health care expenditures.2
There are many examples of how patient education
programs for specific chronic conditions
have increased healthful behaviors, improved
health status, and/or decreased health care costs
of their participants. An excellent bibliography of
more than 400 such patient education studies has
been published recently.3 To date, few of the studies
have dealt with more than one disease or with
the problems of comorbidity. Rather, each patient
education intervention has been disease-specific.
With the emergence of chronic disease as the
largest threat to health status and the largest
cause of health care expenditures, the potential
role of patient self-management assumes increased
importance. If benefits can be shown
from an inexpensive, replicable self-management
program, such programs might be a useful part of
a therapeutic regime. Our study explored this
possibility. It differed from previous self-management
studies in that it: (1) placed subjects with
different chronic diseases and different combinations
of comorbid diseases in the same program at
the same time; (2) utilized a randomized, controlled
design; and (3) measured outcomes in terms
of behaviors, health status, and health service
utilization. Although former patient self-management
education studies had one or more of these
attributes, none have had all three.
The objectives of the study were to evaluate the
effectiveness (changes in health behaviors, health
status, and health service utilization) of a self-management
program for chronic disease designed
for use with a heterogeneous group of
chronic disease patients and to explore the differential
effectiveness of the intervention for subjects
with specific diseases and comorbidities. The
experience during 6 months with the 952 patients
with heart disease, lung disease, stroke, or arthritis
is reported here.
Methods
The Chronic Disease Self-Management Program
(CDSMP) is a community-based patient
self-management education course. Three principal
assumptions underlie the CDSMP: (1) patients
with different chronic diseases have similar
self-management problems and disease-related
tasks; (2) patients can learn to take responsibility
for the day-to-day management of their disease(
s); and (3) confident, knowledgeable patients
practicing self-management will experience
improved health status and will utilize fewer
health care resources. Other assumptions that
shaped the program were that: (1) patient self-management
education should be inexpensive
and widely available; (2) trained lay persons with
chronic conditions could effectively deliver a
structured patient education program; and (3) such lay instructors would be acceptable to both
patients and health professionals. There is research
evidence that positive role models (in this
case, lay leaders with similar backgrounds and
disease problems) increase patients'self-efficacy
or confidence in their ability to manage their disease.
4
Needs A msrtment
The content and methodology of the CDSMP
were based on two needs assessments. The first
was a literature review of existing chronic disease
patient education programs.5 The purpose of this
review was to identify common topics taught
across chronic disease courses. In a review of
more than 70 articles, the authors found 12 common
tasks: recognizing and acting on symptoms,
using medication correctly, managing emergencies,
maintaining nutrition and diet, maintaining
adequate exercise, giving up smoking, using stress
reduction techniques, interacting effectively with
health care providers, using community resources,
adapting to work, managing relations
with significant others, and managing psychological
responses to illness.
The second needs assessment sought information
from 11 focus groups.6 Participants included
people older than 40 years with chronic diseases.
Participants were invited to: (1) describe their disease(
s) and what they thought caused them; (2)
explain their feelings and beliefs about getting
older; (3) describe the physical, social, and emotional
impacts of chronic disease on their lives
and the lives of their families; (4) describe how
they coped with the problems caused by their disease(
s); and (5) elaborate on their fears, hopes,
and wishes for the future. Theme analysis from
these groups' responses was used to shape both
the content of the CDSMP and the process of instruction.
Chronic Disease Self-Management
Program Design
The topics covered in the CDSMP included: exercise;
use of cognitive symptom management
techniques; nutrition; fatigue and sleep management;
use of community resources; use of medications;
dealing with the emotions of fear, anger,
and depression; communication with others including
health professionals; problem-solving;
and decision-making. The content of the coursehas been published as Living a Healthy Life with
Chronic Conditions.7 This book was used as a text
for course participants.
The process of teaching the course is based on
Self-Efficacy Theory. It incorporates strategies
suggested by Bandura to enhance self-efficacy.8
These include weekly action planning and feedback,
modeling of behaviors and problem-solving
by participants for one another, reinterpretation
of symptoms by giving many possible causes for
each symptom as well as several different management
techniques, group problem-solving, and
individual decision-making. The leaders act more
as facilitators than as lecturers. For example,
rather than prescribing specific behavior changes,
they assist participants in making management
choices and achieving success in reaching self-selected
goals. The process is documented in a detailed
protocol, Chronic Disease Self-Management
Leader's Manual.9
Each course had 10 to 15 participants of mixed
ages and diagnoses, including family members if
they wished to attend. Each course was taught by
a pair of trained, volunteer lay leaders. The 87
leaders received 20 hours of training with the detailed
teaching manual. They ranged in age from
21 to 80 years (82% were older than 40).9 Seventy-
one percent of the leaders had one or more
chronic diseases, 23% were health professionals,
and 15% were students. Few had previous experience
in health education. On average, leaders
taught 2.4 courses. The program was given in
seven weekly 2.5-hour sessions.
Entry Criteria
To enter the study, subjects had their physician
confirm a diagnosis of chronic lung disease
(asthma, chronic bronchitis, or emphysema),
heart disease (coronary artery disease or congestive
heart failure), stroke (completed cerebrovascular
accident with neurologic handicap and normal
mentation), or chronic arthritis. In addition to
at least one of the above conditions, they could
have other conditions. Patients with compromised
mentation, cancer patients who received
chemotherapy or radiation within the past year,
and persons younger than 40 years of age were
excluded. Subjects'physicians and hospitals were
not informed as to their study status (treatment or
control).
Recruitment and Randomization
Subjects were recruited using public service announcements
in the mass media, referrals from
flyers left in physicians' offices and community
clinics, posters at senior citizen centers, announcements
in health maintenance organization
(HMO) patient newsletters, and referrals
from county government employers. Before filling
out their initial questionnaire and before randomization,
all subjects were told they would
either receive the course immediately or after
serving as a control for 6 months.
To assure that the program would be easily accessible
to patients, it was held in multiple community
sites in a four county area. Programs were
held in churches, senior and community centers,
public libraries, and health care facilities. In addition,
programs were planned at varied times for
the convenience of patients including late mornings,
early afternoons, evenings, and Saturday
mornings. The project was approved by the institutional
Committee for the Protection of Human
Subjects in Research. All participants gave written
informed consent. After each subject's physicia
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