Do Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases (COPD) Self-Management Interventions Consider Health Literacy and Patient Activation? A Systematic Review

Self-management (SM) includes activities that patients initiate and perform in the interest of controlling their disease and maintaining good health and well-being. This review examines the health literacy and patient activation elements of self-management interventions for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases (COPD) patients. We investigated the effects of the intervention on health-related quality of life, self-efficacy, depression, and anxiety among people with COPD. We conducted a systematic review of studies evaluating the efficacy of self-management interventions among COPD patients that also included health literacy or patient activation as keywords. Four electronic databases Medline, EMBASE, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar, were searched to identify eligible studies. These studies were screened against predetermined inclusion criteria. Data were extracted according to the review questions. Twenty-seven studies met the criteria for inclusion. All of the included studies incorporated health literacy components and focused on COPD and self-management skills. Three studies measured health literacy; two showed improvements in disease knowledge, and one reported a significant change in health-related behaviors. Seventeen studies aimed to build and measured self-efficacy, but none measured patient activation. Eleven studies with multicomponent interventions showed an improvement in quality of life. Six studies that focused on specific behavioral changes with frequent counseling and monitoring demonstrated improvement in self-efficacy. Two interventions that used psychosocial counseling and patient empowerment methods showed improvement in anxiety and depression. Most self-management interventions did not measure health literacy or patient activation as an outcome. Successful interventions were multicomponent and comprehensive in addressing self-management. There is a need to evaluate the impact of comprehensive self-management interventions that address and measure both health literacy and patient activation on health outcomes for COPD patients.