Effectiveness of Self-Management Educational Program on Quality of Life and Activities of Daily Living for Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Aims: Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by progressive articular damage of the joints with extra-articular manifestations. RA has a significant impact on the impairment of patients’ quality of life and loss of physical function and is a leading cause of dependency and disability. The study aimed to assess the effectiveness of the Self-Management Educational program on Health-Related Quality of Life (HQoL) and Activities of Daily Living (ADL) in RA patients. Materials Methods: This quasi-experimental study was carried out on 145 patients with RA from 10th March 2019 to 4th February 2020 at Rheumatology and Physical Rehabilitation Center. Participants were selected by simple random sampling and randomly divided into experimental (n=85) and control (n=60) groups. The study tools included the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ), Barthel Index (BI), and World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF). Patients in the experimental group participated in a four-session self-management training program, while patients in the control group received only routine care. Data were analyzed by SPSS 22.0 software using Fisher’s Exact test, Chi-square test, and Paired t-test. Findings: There was a significant improvement in the quality of life domains, ability to perform activities of daily living, and functional status after the educational program (p 0.01). Also, the proportion of totally independent increased from 35.3% to 54.1% (p 0.05). Conclusion: Self-management educational programs can be considered an effective intervention to improve the quality of life, perform activities of daily living and minimize functional disability in RA patients.