Elderly Health Journal

Introduction: Elderly patients suffer disproportionally from a number of chronically painful conditions, with arthritis leading the list. Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common joint disorder and the most prevalent cause of joint pain across the spectrum of middle age to elderly. Enhancing behavioral intention toward self-care for OA, previously known as proximal predictor of self-care, is one of the fundamental strategies to improve self-management. The purpose of this study was to investigate to what extent a correlation between behavioral intention and self-care attempts exists; and status of intention toward self-care and self-care behaviors among older adults who are suffering from OA in Yazd city, Iran.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted and 87 elderly subjects (mean age of 64.59 ± 3.72 year-old) referred to selected medical centers in Yazd were randomly included. The data collection instrument was a questionnaire designed for the study which includes demographic variables, behavioral intention, and self-care behaviors categories of items. Data were analyzed with SPSS18 using suitable statistical tests.

Results: The mean score of behavioral intention and self-care behaviors was 44.71 ± 4.63 (range: 11-55) and 44.75 ± 5.84 (range: 12-60) respectively. The results revealed that intention to use cane and swimming were less prevalent, intention to use suitable shoes, however, was at the highest interest among patients. It was approximately the same about reported self-care behaviors. The results also showed a significant correlation between behavioral intention and self-care behaviors (p = 0.00).

Conclusion: Despite demonstrably prevalent intention and self-care behaviors, there are varies self-care behaviors under-looked yet, such as swimming and using the cane, which need to be more closely addressed in educational programs.