Effect of Smart Phone-Based Educational Program on Self- Care Practices for Hepatitis C Patients

Abstract

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) fronts a threat disease to the health of millions of people and is a major cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. The use of new digital health technology helps in providing quality assured education, as well, it has been proved to positively affect self-care practices. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of a smartphonebased educational program on self-care practices for hepatitis C patients. Design: A quasiexperimental research design was utilized in this study. Setting: This study was conducted at the medical outpatient clinic affiliated to El Nasr Insurance Hospital. Sample: A purposive sample of 100 Hepatitis C patients was selected and randomly divided into two equal groups. Tools of data collection: One tool was used, Patients' structured interview questionnaire: it included four parts: Part 1) Patients' demographic characteristics, Part 2: Past medical history. Part 3) patients' level of knowledge regarding HCV, and Part 4) patients' self-care reported practices. Results: The mean age of the study and control groups were (39.70 ±7.74) and (39.560 ±9.532) respectively. The majority of study group had satisfactory knowledge scores post smart phone program, the minority of study group had a good level of self-care practices in the pre-program phase compared to the majority of them post smart phone program implementation Conclusion: There were highly significant improvements in total knowledge scores, reported self-care practices post smartphone educational program among study group than control group. Recommendation: Updated counseling regarding self-care practices must be included in the hepatitis C management standardized protocols.