Effectiveness of self-instruction for arthritis patient education.

Self-instruction is one means of providing patient education, allowing the health professional to teach a larger number of persons than with one-to-one or group instruction and at a lower cost. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of self-instruction on learning, satisfaction with the teaching approach, and health status of persons with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). A control-group pretest-posttest design was used. Thirty subjects receiving care at a rheumatology clinic who met study criteria were randomly assigned to two groups: self-instruction and control. One-way analysis of covariance on posttest Rheumatoid Arthritis Knowledge Inventory (RAKI) scores, with the pretest as covariate, was used to examine the difference in learning between the self-instruction and control groups. There was a significant difference between the groups (P = 0.01). Participants who completed the self-instructional program had improved scores on the posttest as compared to the control. Subjects rated self-instruction as an effective teaching strategy in terms of promoting learning about RA and patient acceptability. t-Test demonstrated no significant difference between the groups in health status. Significant correlations were found between subjects' test scores and selected variables.

Duke Scholars

Author Marilyn Haag Oermann School of Nursing