Peer educator vs. respiratory therapist support: which form of support better maintains health and functional outcomes following pulmonary rehabilitation?
OBJECTIVE
This study examined if ongoing support delivered by telephone following pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) assisted chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients to maintain health outcomes.


METHODS
Phase one (n=79) compared post-rehabilitation telephone-based support delivered by peers compared to usual care (UC). The second phase (n=168) compared post-rehabilitation support from peer educators, respiratory therapists (RT), or UC. Primary outcome variables were St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) total score and the six minute walk test (6MWT). Measures were obtained at baseline, immediately following PR, and six-months post PR.


RESULTS
Six-month follow-up data for phase one was collected for 66 COPD patients (n=35 peer support, n=31 UC) and 142 for phase two (n=42 peer support, n=52 RT support, n=48 UC). Per-protocol and intention to treat (ITT) analysis in both phases found no significant group by time differences for SGRQ or 6MWT.


CONCLUSIONS
Providing peer or RT support via telephone following PR was not more effective than UC for maintaining health outcomes.


CONCLUSIONS
There are concerns with using peers to provide ongoing support to COPD patients. Additionally, COPD patients require a higher level of care than telephone support can provide.
Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; Centre for Lung Health (Covenant Health), Edmonton General Continuing Care Centre, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Eric Y
EY
Wong
Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Electronic address: cally1@ualberta.ca.
Cally A
CA
Jennings
Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Wendy M
WM
Rodgers
Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Anne-Marie
AM
Selzler
Centre for Lung Health (Covenant Health), Edmonton General Continuing Care Centre, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Lindsay G
LG
Simmonds
Centre for Lung Health (Covenant Health), Edmonton General Continuing Care Centre, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Rashida
R
Hamir
Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; Centre for Lung Health (Covenant Health), Edmonton General Continuing Care Centre, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Michael K
MK
Stickland
D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D010379:Peer Group; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013689:Telephone; D016896:Treatment Outcome
COPD; Exercise; Pulmonary rehabilitation