title: Development and evaluation of an E-health system to care for patients with bladder pain syndrome/interstitial cystitis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Bladder pain syndrome/interstitial cystitis (BPS/IC) is a chronic disease that highly degrades the quality of life for patients. In the present study, Internet intervention was used to care for bladder pain syndrome/interstitial cystitis patients to alleviate their pain and bothering symptoms.
  
  
  METHODS
  Healthcare education was carried out through the Internet by asking the patients, who were randomly divided into study (40 patients) and control (40 patients) groups, to check possible sensitive foods, habits, and behaviors weekly to remind and consolidate important rules for promoting quality of life. The symptom flares consultation through short message service with the Internet used to elevate healthcare efficiency was undertaken. Questionnaires, including Short Form 36 health survey, O'Leary-Sant symptom and problem indices, as well as visual analog scales pain and urgency scales, were used to evaluate quality of life and disease severity improvements before and after information and communication technology intervention. The outcome was evaluated at week 8.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The quality of life of both the control and study groups was significantly improved. The quality of life and visual analog scales for the patients in the study group with information and communication technology intervention showed a much greater improvement compared with the patients in the control group (P < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The E-health system was shown to be effective in improving quality of life of bladder pain syndrome/interstitial cystitis patients through intervention of Internet healthcare education and short message service for the consolidation of healthy behavior and lifestyle in the 8-week follow up.
authors.affiliation: Department of Management Information System, Central Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taichung, Taiwan; Department of Urology, Feng Yuan Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ming-Huei
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Huei-Ching
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Jen-Yung
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Tan-Hsu
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Po-Chou
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Yung-Fu
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D018856:Cystitis, Interstitial / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D059411:Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D059408:Pain Management / Q000379:methods; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration; D017699:Pelvic Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D011788:Quality of Life; D019114:Remote Consultation / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: E-health education; bladder pain syndrome; information and communication technology; interstitial cystitis; quality of life