Effect of an Education Programme for Patients With Osteoarthritis in Primary Care - a Randomized Controlled Trial

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative disease, considered to be one of the major national diseases that cause suffering for affected patients and costs for society.The predominant symptoms are pain, stiffness and impaired quality of life, often together with psychological distress. Treatment often consists of medication. Later in the disease, when the joint is destroyed, joint replacement surgery commonly occurs. Physical exercises aimed to increase muscle strength, endurance, proprioception and stability have proved to influence cartilage as well as function, symptoms and quality of life positively. Physical exercise may also reduce the need for hospital care after knee joint replacement.

Research suggests that patient education is feasible and valuable in terms of improvements in quality of life, in function, in well-being and improved coping . Accordingly, guidelines recommend education as a core treatment for osteoarthritis.

Patient education programmes are often defined as a planned learning experience to influence a patient's knowledge and health behaviour [13]. There are various types of patient education. It can be given by a physician as part of consultation, in small groups or delivered by a multi-disciplinary team [13, 14] Since 1994, Primary Health Care in Malmö has used a patient education programme directed towards OA. The programme has been developed by physiotherapists and occupational therapists in primary health care and has been implemented in the ordinary work.