The Effects of a Self-Care Program on the Severity of Symptoms and Quality of Life of Patients With Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a chronic disease that needs special self-care strategies. The current study aimed at determining the effects of a self-care program on the severity of symptoms and quality of life of patients with IBS. In this randomized controlled clinical trial, 119 patients were randomly assigned to the experimental (n = 60) and control (n = 59) groups. Patients in both groups received the usual treatment of IBS by a gastroenterologist. The control group did not receive any intervention, whereas the experimental group was trained in the self-care program. The process of implementing the self-care program included designing and determining the content validity of the self-care training package, individual training, the first follow-up call, group training, and the second follow-up call. The instruments for collecting data were IBS-Quality of Life and IBS-Symptom Severity Scale. Two sets of evaluations (before and 2 months after the intervention) were done for both groups. The data were analyzed using SPSS software, Version 16. The results showed that there was not a significant difference between the two groups in the severity of symptoms and quality of life before the intervention (p > .05); however, the 2 groups were significantly different after the intervention (p < .0001). Implementation of the self-care program resulted in the improvement of quality of life and reduction in the symptom severity in the experimental group after the intervention (p < .0001), whereas no significant changes were observed in the control group (p > .05). Hence, the data supports that self-care program was effective in improving the quality of life and reducing the severity of symptoms in patients with IBS.
Shahrzad Ghiyasvandian, PhD, is Associate Professor, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Mojtaba Ghorbani, MSc, is PhD Candidate, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Masoumeh Zakerimoghadam, PhD, is Assistant Professor, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Zahra Purfarzad, MSc, is PhD candidate, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran. Anoshirvan Kazemnejad, PhD, is Professor, Department of Biostatistics, faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
Shahrzad
S
Ghiyasvandian
Mojtaba
M
Ghorbani
Masoumeh
M
Zakerimoghadam
Zahra
Z
Purfarzad
Anoshirvan
A
Kazemnejad
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D043183:Irritable Bowel Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000458:organization & administration*; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011788:Quality of Life; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012648:Self Care / Q000379:methods*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult