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Benefits of a membership in a psoriasis patient organisation: a quasi-experimental longitudinal study
- Source :
- Archives of Dermatological Research. 310:807-813
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2018.
-
Abstract
- Patient organisations play an important role in supporting patients with chronic diseases and allow information transfer beyond professional care structures. Until now, only few studies have investigated the benefits of a dermatological patient organisation. In this study, potential benefits of joining the German Psoriasis Association (Deutscher Psoriasis Bund e. V., DPB) were surveyed. The quasi-experimental longitudinal design included four groups of individuals suffering from psoriasis: those (1) with DPB membership of 5 years, (2) with voluntary new membership, (3) with randomly awarded membership, and (4) without membership. Participants were interviewed two times in 12 months, about quality of life, depression, participation in patient education classes, health status, and treatment benefits. 295 individuals participated (mean age 54 years; 50.3% females). At the outset of the study, participants with voluntary new membership rated their health status worse and showed higher depression scores than those with awarded membership. The proportion of participants who joined patient education classes only increased in the group of long-term members. Health status worsened in the group of non-members, and it improved in the group of those with awarded and voluntary new membership. Treatment benefit only increased in the voluntary new members group. DPB membership seems to be associated with some relief from psoriasis-related strains, particularly in the group of those who joined voluntarily. This could be due to the fact that individuals who become members out of their own volition are more likely to seek information and, therefore, benefit from their active engagement.
- Subjects :
- Male
Longitudinal study
medicine.medical_specialty
Health Status
education
Dermatology
030207 dermatology & venereal diseases
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Quality of life (healthcare)
Patient Education as Topic
Surveys and Questionnaires
Psoriasis
Humans
Medicine
Psoriasis patient
In patient
Longitudinal Studies
health care economics and organizations
Depression (differential diagnoses)
Depression
business.industry
Mean age
General Medicine
Middle Aged
medicine.disease
Self-Help Groups
030220 oncology & carcinogenesis
Family medicine
Quality of Life
Female
Self Report
Patient Participation
business
Patient education
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 1432069X and 03403696
- Volume :
- 310
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Archives of Dermatological Research
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....c57941b231a4c18fa76c8cc86c60655c