Effectiveness of Implementation of a Patient-centered Self-management Program in Patients With Hypertensive Nephropathy

Since population aging is accompanied by chronic diseases. Hypertension is a type of chronic disease, and poor to control the symptoms of hypertension may accelerate the progression of renal function into hypertensive nephropathy (HN) and ultimately lead to dialysis. 2017 annual report on kidney disease in Taiwan published by The Taiwan Society of Nephrology showed that among the comorbidities experienced by new patients before the 1year dialysis, hypertension ranked the first (89.5%). In Taiwan, the prevalence and incidence of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) both are ranked high in the world, which has an impact on the aspects of individual, family, society, etc. and jeopardizes the financial situation of the government's national health insurance. Therefore, in order to effectively reduce the incidence of ESRD and delay the progression of HN, the implementation of a patient-centered self-management program may effectively reduce medical costs and improve patients' quality of life. This study is a 2-years project. The year 1 project to assess the effectiveness of implementation of the program in patients with HN. The experimental research design of 2×2 randomized controlled trial with pre and post-testing will be adopted. A total of 70 subjects will be enrolled, and 35 subjects will be randomized into the control group (conventional program) and experimental group (patient-centered self-management program), respectively, using the single-blind design. Firstly, this study will collect the pretest data of the control group and experimental group. The data to be collected include physiological indicators, physical and psychological health, self-efficacy, self-management, and satisfaction, etc. The experimental group will receive the 4-week intervention of program after the pre-test. This study will assess the effectiveness of intervention 1 month later. This study will use G power statistical analysis to calculate the sample size and use SPSS/Windows 20.0 for recording and statistical analysis. For the statistical analysis methods, this study will use repeated measure ANOVA to analyze the effectiveness of intervention. The year 2 project is to extend the year 1 research project. This study will use generalized estimating equation (GEE) to collect the longitudinal data and test the effectiveness of implementation of program in patients with HN at different time points (after 1, 3, and 6 months). It is expected that the completion of this research project may help improve the effective disease control in the care for patients with HN in Taiwan and improve self-management of disease. Hopefully, the incidence of patients with dialysis can be significantly reduced and the progression into ESRD in patients can be effectively delayed. Moreover, this study also intends propose specific suggestions about the care of patients with HN for industry, government, and academia.