Study On The Effects Of A Continuous Health Education Intervention For The Families Of Chronic Hepatitis B Patients

ObjectiveTo explore the effects of a continuous health education intervention designed by the investigator for the families of the Chronic Hepatitis B (CHB) patients, which included the families' knowledge related to the CHB, health behavior, anxiety, depression, quality of life and liver function. To explore the effect of the continuous health education intervention on preventing the families infected by the CHB patients.Methods:103 families of the CHB patients who met the inclusion criterion were invited in this study since they visited the out-patient department of Affiliated Hospital of Armed Police Force Medical College of Tianjin since January 2007 to July 2007. The families were randomly assigned into the study group and the control group. 53 families were in the study group and the other 50 families were in the control group. All the families were asked to fill the questionnaires of CHB health education, SAS, SDS, and SF-36 for getting the baseline data (the first evaluation). The families in the control group received routine health education only, and the families in the study group received the routine health education and a continuous health education intervention which designed by the investigator. The intervention included: providing the families the health handbook at the day when they accompanied the CHB patients to see the doctor, explaining the information of CHB, keeping in touch with the families during the six months of follow up, answering the families' CHB related questions, following up for home visit in the end of the second month (the second evaluation ), the end of the fourth month (the third evaluation), and the end of the sixth month (the fourth evaluation) after the first interview with the families. The follow up included the HBV knowledge improvement, and the improvement of the health behavior related HBV. After six months, all the families were asked to fill in the same questionnaires. At the same time, all the families had the laboratory examination on liver function and HBV marker. Data were analyzed with SPSS 10.0. Results:1. The level of the families' anxiety and the depression before intervention was higher than that in the normal crowd (P<0.05); Except BP, RP, the scores of the other domains were lower than those in the normal crowd (P<0.05) in SF-36.2. Compared the knowledge scores of the four times in the study group, there were significant differences between the each two times comparison (P<0.05). There was not significant difference between the two scores before the intervention and six months after the intervention in the control group (P>0.05). The score of the study group was higher than that of the control group after the intervention (P<0.05).3. The health behavior score of the patients in the study group after the intervention was higher than that before the intervention (P<0.05). There was not significant difference between the two health behavior scores before and after the intervention for patients in the control group (P>0.05).4. Compared with the health behavior scores of four times for the study group, the differences were significant (P<0.05). The scores increased continously when evaluated each time during the six months follow up. There was not significant difference between the two health behavior scores before and after the intervention for the control group (P>0.05).5. The score of attitude to health education in the study group after the intervention was higher than that before the intervention (P<0.05). There was not significant difference between the two scores of attitude to health education before and after the intervention for the control group (P>0.05).6. In the study group, the scores of SAS and SDS after the intervention were lower than those before the intervention (P<0.05). In the control group, the differences of SAS and SDS scores before and after the intervention were not significant. The differences of SAS score and SDS score before and after the intervention for the study group were significant P<0.05). The scores of SAS and SDS for the study group were lower than those the normal crowd( P<0.05).7. The scores of PF, GH, VT, SF and RE after the intervention were higher than those before the intervention for the study group( P<0.05). The score was not different significantly for each domain of SF-36 before and after the intervention for the control group (P>0.05). The scores of PF, BP, GH, SF, RE domains after the intervention for the study group were lower than the normal crowd (P<0.05).8. The differences of the GGT, DBIL, TBIL, IBIL and ALP between the times of before and after the intervention for the study group were not significant (P>0.05). The ALP before and after the intervention was not significant different for the control group(P>0.05).Conclusion:Compaired with the normal crowd, the families of CHB patients had higher level of anxiety and depression, and lower level of six domains of SF-36 before the intervention. The continuous health education could elevate the cognition of HBV knowledge for the CHB patients' families. According to this study, it could elevate the health behavior, improve the quality of life, decrease the level of anxiety and depression for the CHB patients' families by the continuous health education. The continuous health education might be an effective factor for keeping the families' liver function stable.