P50 Facilitation of continued exercise via patient volunteers with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) following a pulmonary rehabilitation programme: a feasibility study

Abstract

was examined and demographic information collected. The data were divided by season e winter months incorporating October to March and summer months, April to September. The null hypothesis that there would be no difference between attendance rates in summer months compared to winter months was tested using a ManneWhitney U test. The attendance data were correlated, using Pearson 9 s product-moment correlation coefficient, with local monthly weather data, obtained from the Met Office, for temperature, hours of sunshine and rainfall over the time period. Results In total 506 assessment appointments were made to achieve 258 attendances, an attendance rate of 51%. For assessments, there was no difference in attendance between the winter and summer months (50 and 51% respectively). For the group PR sessions, 2325 appointments were made to achieve 1613 attendances (69%). The overall attendance rate at group sessions during winter was 64% compared to 74% during summer. Non-parametric testing of the data revealed the seasonal difference to be statistically significant (p<0.05). Attendance rates show weak, positive correlation with maximum and minimum temperatures (r ¼+0.51, +0.44 respectively) and sunlight hours (r ¼+0.55), and weak negative correlation with amount of rainfall (r ¼À0.33). Conclusion Attendance rates were significantly worse during winter compared to summer. This needs to be taken into account when planning PR services and in local efforts to maximise patient participation. The weak correlation between attendance and specific weather indicators suggests that weather conditions may contribute to this pattern. Confounding patient factors such as illness exacerbation and environmental issues such as transport need to be further evaluated in the context of seasonality to better understand this relationship. Introduction After pulmonary rehabilitation activity levels gradually decline, on average, back to baseline over 12e18 months. The NHS has highlighted the value of peer support for patients with chronic disease, but this has not been fully evaluated in patients with COPD. Therefore we designed an observational study with the aim of exploring and assessing an exercise maintenance programme with peer volunteer support over a 6-month period, in order to inform a future large-scale study. Methods Patients were recruited from a 7-week outpatient community pulmonary rehabilitation programme. Six peer volunteers with COPD were trained and allocated up to six patients each. A fortnightly exercise maintenance programme was set up in one locality led by a physiotherapist & assistant. This was supported by a programme of home-based exercise, goal setting and feedback on activity levels. Peer volunteers met with their groups each month to encourage individual activity. The primary outcomes were participation levels and attendance rates; secondary outcomes were activity levels and health status. Qualitative interviews demonstrated the individual variance in exercise habits and motivations see Abstract P50 Table 1. P...

Facilitators and barriers to physical activity following pulmonary rehabilitation in COPD: a systematic review of qualitative studies

“…However, only 14 studies were included within the synthesis ( n = 12 published articles; n = 2 theses). In two cases, records referred to the same study 27 – 30 and the remaining studies 31 , 32 ( n = 2) were presented only as conference abstracts. These were identified as relevant to the research question of this review, but not eligible for inclusion within the synthesis of the results due to lack of availability of participant quotations.…”

“…These were identified as relevant to the research question of this review, but not eligible for inclusion within the synthesis of the results due to lack of availability of participant quotations. 31 , 32 Authors of these studies were contacted for more information; however, there was no response from authors.

Fig.

…”

“…The resulting context within the included studies was diverse in terms of individuals’ PR settings, PA experiences following PR, and the cultural setting within each country, meaning that it was possible to achieve a higher level of abstraction in the synthesis. 47 Two records retrieved in our search strategy were conference abstracts, 31 , 32 and based on the available information were deemed to meet the inclusion criteria. It may be considered a limitation that the data from these studies are not included in our synthesis; however, as findings largely reflected existing themes we feel access to the full studies is unlikely to change the conclusions drawn in this review.…”