Rationale
Quality of life (QoL) matters the most to patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and is associated with healthcare usage and survival. Pulmonary rehabilitation is the most effective intervention in improving QoL but has low uptake and adherence. Home-based programs are a proposed solution. However, there is a knowledge gap on effective and sustainable home-based programs impacting QoL in patients with COPD.
Objectives
To determine whether remote patient monitoring with health coaching improves the physical and emotional disease-specific QoL measured by the Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire (CRQ).
Methods
This multicenter clinical trial enrolled 375 adult patients with COPD, randomized to a 12-week remote patient monitoring with health coaching (
n
= 188) or wait-list usual care (
n
= 187). Primary outcomes include physical and emotional QoL measured by the CRQ summary scores. Prespecified secondary outcomes included the CRQ domains: dyspnea, CRQ-fatigue, CRQ-emotions, CRQ-mastery, daily physical activity, self-management abilities, symptoms of depression/anxiety, emergency room/hospital admissions, and sleep.
Results
Participant age: 69 ± 9 years; 59% women; forced expiratory volume in 1 second percent predicted: 45 ± 19. At 12 weeks, there was a significant and clinically meaningful difference between the intervention versus the control group in the physical and emotional CRQ summary scores: change difference (95% confidence interval): 0.54 points (0.36–0.73),
P
< 0.001; 0.51 (0.39–0.69),
P
< 0.001, respectively. In addition, all CRQ domains, self-management, daily physical activity, sleep, and depression scores improved (
P
< 0.01). CRQ changes were maintained at 24 weeks.
Conclusions
Remote monitoring with health coaching promotes COPD wellness and behavior change, given its effect on all aspects of QoL, self-management, daily physical activity, sleep, and depression scores. It represents an effective option for home-based rehabilitation.
Clinical trial registered with
clinicaltrials.gov
(NCT 03480386).
Pulmonary rehabilitation is an intervention shown to improve patient-reported quality of life (QoL) in patients with fibrotic interstitial lung disease (f-ILD). Findings of a study of f-ILD participants in a home-based program suggest improvements in dyspnea and respiratory-related QoL. Our study suggests feasibility in a diverse set of symptomatic patients.
Objective: Health coaching has the potential to improve self-management abilities (SM) in patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Patient engagement with health care providers has a beneficial effect on patient outcomes. We examined the association of patient engagement with the health coach on SM abilities in patients with COPD. Methods: We analyzed the association between the degree of engagement measured by the Working Alliance Inventory (WAI-SR) and the SM measured by the Self-Management-Ability-Scale-30 (SMAS-30) at the end of a COPD health coaching intervention. Results: The cohort included 146 moderate to severe COPD patients. The WAI-SR total score was 85% of the maximum possible scores indicating a high degree of engagement between the health coach and the patients. The WAI-SR Task and Bond domains were positively associated with SM abilities after adjusting for lung function (FEV1 %) and depression symptoms (PHQ-2). Conclusion: The degree of engagement between a health coach and patients is associated with the perception of SM abilities in patients with COPD. Our results may inform self-management intervention and clinical practice.
Background: Home-based interventions are at the center stage of current healthcare demands. There is a clear need to translate pulmonary rehabilitation to a home-based setting. This 8-week pilot study aimed to determine the feasibility of a Home-based Physical Activity (HPA) program for 12 participants with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) in Sweden.
Methods: Patients with COPD, age 40 years or older, and clinically stable in the last 3 months were recruited. The program included the use of a fitness tracker to monitor step count, weekly health coaching calls using motivational interviewing, and video-guided mindful movements (tai chi and yoga exercises).
The outcome measures were adherence to the eight-week program video-guided exercises (number of times videos were watched), adherence to health coaching calls (minimum 8), monthly and daily step count, and quality of life (QoL) using the Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire, (CRQ).
Results: Thirteen participants were enrolled, and one participant dropped out. Twelve participants adhered to 8-weeks of health coaching calls and step monitoring. We had a total of 643 video-exercise views, the compliance exceeded the minimum standard (576 views).
The mean difference comparing total monthly steps from baseline and the eight-week time point was 47 039 steps (CI – 113625-1623.5, p=0.06). The minimal clinical improvement of 500 daily steps was found for 8 of the patients. No significant improvement was found in the QoL measures and mental health.
Conclusions: We found the HPA program to be a feasible intervention. Patients showed high adherence to tracking step counts, health coaching calls, and video-guided exercise. No improvements in QoL or monthly step count emerged, however, we found high compliance and a positive trend in the number of monthly step counts, and improvements of at least 500 daily step counts improved in most patients with this small sample size.
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