Severity, self-care behaviors and factors related to the severity of osteoarthritis in patients in Sunpasitthiprasong Hospital, Ubon Ratchathani Province

Abstract

This research aimed to 1) study the severity of osteoarthritis of patients with osteoarthritis, 2) study self-care behaviors of patients with osteoarthritis and 3) investigate the factors related to the severity of osteoarthritis of patients with osteoarthritis undergoing treatment at the Department of Orthopedics of Sunpasitthiprasong Hospital, Ubon Ratchathani Province. The population of this study consisted of 167,382 patients with osteoarthritis undergoing treatment at the Department of Orthopedics of Sunpasitthiprasong Hospital in 2016. The sample size was obtained from the sample size calculation by estimating the proportion, so 400 participants were selected. The data collection instruments were divided into 3 parts: Part 1: General information, bio-social factors, knowledge about the health care of patients with osteoarthritis, perception factors and social support factors; Part 2: Self-care behaviors and Part 3: Information on the severity of osteoarthritis. The reliability was 0.64-0.79. The statistics used for data analysis were descriptive statistics, including percentage, mean and standard deviation and the inferential statistics, including multiple logistic regression analysis. The results of the study were as follows. 1) The severity of osteoarthritis in term of knee pain: The patients had knee pain when walking up and down the stairs or standing with body weight distribution which were the vertical movement activities affecting the knees. 2) Self-care behaviors: It was found that the patients with mild pain had moderate self-care behaviors while the patients with severe pain had moderate and good self-care behaviors. 3) The factors related to severity of osteoarthritis with statistical significance: They included smoking, occupation, education and self-care behaviors. Osteoarthritis is an important problem for middle-aged and elderly patients, which can cause disability and affect the routine. The severity of osteoarthritis is increasing. It may be due to the factors such as smoking, occupation, education, and self-care behaviors. Therefore, patients should be encouraged to change their self-care behaviors to reduce the severity of the disease in order to improve the quality of life of the patients according to the policy of the Ministry of Public Health.