The Effect of Self-Management Educational Program on Pain Intensity in Elderly Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis: A Randomized Clinical Trial

BACKGROUND: Osteoarthritis is one of the chronic diseases that greatly affect the health and life quality of individuals. AIM: This study aimed to determine the effect of self-management educational program on the pain intensity of the elderly patients with knee osteoarthritis. METHODS: In a randomised clinical trial, a total of 82 elderly patients with knee osteoarthritis were randomly divided into intervention and control groups. The intervention group received six sessions of self-management group education, while the control group received only the routine care during this period. In both groups, patients’ pain intensity, with a visual analogue scale (VAS), were assessed before, immediately after and eight weeks after the start of the study. RESULTS: The mean pain intensity scores of the intervention and control groups were not significantly different before the intervention (P = 0.9), but after the intervention, the mean pain intensity score in the intervention group (3.61 ± 2.36) was significantly lower than that of the control group (4.93 ± 2.00), (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Implementation of a self-management program for the patients with knee osteoarthritis is useful in reducing their pain intensity and can be used as one of the effective methods for their empowerment.