title: Contribution of psychological factors in dropping out from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease rehabilitation programs.
abstract: Significant positive effects, particularly on psychological state in patients who completed the follow-up pulmonary rehabilitation programs, are indicated by a large number of studies. Yet, a remarkable proportion of selected patients drop out from these programs. In this study, we investigated existing differences on psychological variables among COPD patients who complete and those who drop out from pulmonary rehabilitation programs. The study included 144 patients, 43 (29.9%) of whom did not complete the program. SCL-90 was used for the assessment of psychological symptoms. On the SCL-90-R scale 55.6% of patients had abnormal findings. Patients who discontinued the program had higher rates of depression and somatization compared to those who completed it. Regarding the psychopathology scales of SCL-90R, we found that patients who discontinued the program showed higher levels of psychopathology on the scales of somatization, depression, paranoid ideation, and psychotism compared to those who completed the program. The final regression model showed that patients with low educational status and psychotism were more likely to leave the program. In conclusion, psychopathology contributes to patients dropping out from a COPD rehabilitation program; thus, psychological assessment prior to inclusion in rehabilitation programs may reduce dropouts.
authors.affiliation: Psychiatric Department, "Sotiria" General Hospital of Chest Disease, Mesogeion 152, 11527 Athens, Greece ; Pulmonary Rehabilitation Centre, "Sotiria" General Hospital of Chest Disease, Mesogeion 152, 11527 Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Athanasios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tselebis
authors.affiliation: Pulmonary Rehabilitation Centre, "Sotiria" General Hospital of Chest Disease, Mesogeion 152, 11527 Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Epaminondas
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kosmas
authors.affiliation: Psychiatric Department, "Sotiria" General Hospital of Chest Disease, Mesogeion 152, 11527 Athens, Greece ; Pulmonary Rehabilitation Centre, "Sotiria" General Hospital of Chest Disease, Mesogeion 152, 11527 Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Dionisios
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bratis
authors.affiliation: Psychiatric Department, "Sotiria" General Hospital of Chest Disease, Mesogeion 152, 11527 Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Argiro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pachi
authors.affiliation: Endocrinology Department, "Elena Venizelou" Hospital, 11521 Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Ioannis
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ilias
authors.affiliation: Pulmonary Rehabilitation Centre, "Sotiria" General Hospital of Chest Disease, Mesogeion 152, 11527 Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Harikiopoulou
authors.affiliation: Pulmonary Rehabilitation Centre, "Sotiria" General Hospital of Chest Disease, Mesogeion 152, 11527 Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Elpida
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Theodorakopoulou
authors.affiliation: Pulmonary Rehabilitation Centre, "Sotiria" General Hospital of Chest Disease, Mesogeion 152, 11527 Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Konstantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Velentzas
authors.affiliation: Pulmonary Rehabilitation Centre, "Sotiria" General Hospital of Chest Disease, Mesogeion 152, 11527 Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dumitru
authors.affiliation: Psychiatric Department, "Sotiria" General Hospital of Chest Disease, Mesogeion 152, 11527 Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Georgios
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Moussas
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Medicine, Medical School, University of Crete, 71 003 Heraklion, Greece.
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Siafakas
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Medicine, Medical School, University of Crete, 71 003 Heraklion, Greece ; Laboratory of Epidemiology, Department of Social Medicine, Medical School, University of Crete, 71 003 Heraklion, Greece.
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tzanakis
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010352:Patient Dropouts / Q000523:psychology*; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires