title: Patient education and its effect on self-management in cirrhosis: a pilot study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Patients with cirrhosis can contribute significantly to maintaining compensation through simple lifestyle measures. It is, however, unknown whether they possess sufficient knowledge to make informed decisions with regard to their health, with few resources invested in patient education. We aimed to determine the level of knowledge that patients with cirrhosis possess and whether an information leaflet can make a positive impact on this.
  
  
  METHODS
  We prospectively recruited clinically stable patients with cirrhosis to take part in a preintervention/postintervention study. Thirty-nine patients were recruited either to take part in a telephone-based questionnaire followed by repeating the questionnaire 2 months after receipt of a leaflet or to receive the leaflet directly and complete the questionnaire 2 months later.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The questionnaire demonstrated that baseline knowledge in the study group was poor, with a mean score of 3.4 out of a possible 9 points. There was a statistically significant improvement in the score to 7.5 in those who used the leaflet (Wilcoxon's signed-ranked test, P=0.0006). The mean score achieved by those who received the leaflet directly was 6.8, which is comparable to the scores of patients in the first cohort who read the leaflet and is significantly higher than the scores of the same participants before reading the leaflet (Wilcoxon's rank-sum test, P=0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that patients with cirrhosis lack the knowledge to effectively manage their disease. The introduction of a leaflet resulted in a statistically significant improvement in understanding. Longitudinal studies are required to assess whether such interventions can result in improved clinical outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, West Hertfordshire NHS Trust, Watford General Hospital, Hertfordshire, UK.
authors.forename: Sabina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Beg
authors.forename: Sam
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Curtis
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shariff
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D032882:Comprehension; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D057220:Health Literacy; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010174:Pamphlets; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D010358:Patient Participation; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011209:Power, Psychological; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011932:Reading; D012648:Self Care; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome