Improving functional status in arthritis: the effect of social support.
Improving functional status in arthritis: the effect of social support.
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改善关节炎的功能状态：社会支持的作用。
DOI：
10.1016/0277-9536(86)90218-2
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发表时间：
1986
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Tierney,WM
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Weinberger,M;Hiner,SL;Tierney,WM
我们目前的数据来自一项纵向研究的患者有症状的骨关节炎（OA）的膝关节和/或髋关节。这项研究的一个组成部分是访谈者每两周打电话给患者，持续6个月，询问他们所经历的压力源，并获得他们的健康自我评估。本研究假设电话访问者（TI）可提供OA患者社会支持，从而改善其功能状态，患者接受两周一次的电话访问6个月后，其功能状态（身体残疾、心理残疾和疼痛）显著改善。由于我们的结果变量已被证明是可靠的残疾措施，随着时间的推移，因为OA是一个渐进的退行性过程，人们会期望恶化，而不是改善。此外，由于患者在6个月时报告的社会支持比基线时更多，我们将健康状况的改善归因于TI被视为可能有支持缺陷的老年人的社会支持来源。我们建议未来的研究重新定义TI的角色，从一个公正的数据收集者的社会支持的提供者。TI应遵循自己的患者小组，以便建立连续性。此外，TI应接受有关OA，其治疗，常见药物及其副作用以及其他相关信息的培训。通过这种方式，可以进一步增强社会支持，并为改善患者的健康状况提供最大的潜力。
We present data from a longitudinal study of patients with symptomatic osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee and/or hip. One component of this study involved interviewers telephoning patients bi-weekly for 6 months to inquire about stressors which they have experienced and to obtain self-assessment of their health. We hypothesized that telephone interviewers (TI) may provide OA patients with social support, and thus improve their functional status.Patients' functional status (physical disability, psychological disability, and pain) improved significantly after 6 months of receiving bi-weekly telephone calls. Since our outcome variables have been shown to be reliable measures of disability over time, and because OA is a progressively degenerative process, one would expect deterioration rather than improvement. Furthermore, since patients reported more social support at 6 months than at baseline, we attributed the improvement in health status to the TIs being viewed as a source of social support to elderly persons who may have support deficits. We suggest that future studies redefine TIs' roles from an unbiased data collector to a provider of social support. TIs should follow their own panel of patients so that continuity can be established. Furthermore, TIs should undergo training about OA, its treatment, common medications and their side effects, and other pertinent information. In this manner, social support may be further enhanced and provide the greatest potential to improve patients' health status.