Reliability and Validity
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ResearchEBP
Compassion Fatigue RCT
3584 | wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jan J Adv Nurs. 2020;76:3584–3596.© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Received: 2 May 2020 | Revised: 22 July 2020 | Accepted: 24 July 2020
DOI: 10.1111/jan.14568
O R I G I N A L R E S E A R C H : C L I N I C A L T R I A L
Effect of a compassion fatigue resiliency program on nurses’
professional quality of life, perceived stress, resilience:
A randomized controlled trial
Tuğba Pehlivan1 | Perihan Güner2
1Koç University Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey
2Istanbul Bilgi University Faculty of Health
Sciences, Istanbul, Turkey
Correspondence
Tuğba Pehlivan, Koç University Hospital,
Istanbul, Turkey.
Email: tpehlivan14@ku.edu.tr
Funding information
This research received no specific grant
from any funding agency in the public,
commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Abstract
Aims: This study aimed to conduct a short- and long-term Compassion Fatigue
Resiliency Program and compare its impact on nurses’ professional quality of life,
perceived stress, and resilience.
Design: The research was conducted between January 2017 January 2019 as a ran-
domized controlled trial.
Methods: The sample comprised 125 oncology–haematology nurses randomly as-
signed to a Experimental I, Experimental II, or control group. The Compassion Fatigue
Resiliency Program was conducted with the nurses as an intervention. Experimental
I received a short-term program (5 hr per day for 2 days, 10 hr in total) while
Experimental II received a long-term one (5 weeks, 2 hr per week, 10 hr in total).
Measurements were obtained during pre- and post-test and at 3-, 6-, and 12-month
follow-ups. Research hypotheses were analysed using multilevel models.
Results: The results of multilevel model analyses showed there was no statistically
significant difference between mean scores for compassion fatigue, burnout, per-
ceived stress, and resilience of nurses in the short- or long-term groups or of those
in the control group. Mean compassion satisfaction scores of nurses in the short- or
long-term groups were significantly higher than those in the control group. Mean
compassion satisfaction scores of nurses in the short- or long-term groups were sig-
nificantly higher than the control group’s pre-test mean after 6 and 12 months.
Conclusion: This study concluded that short- or long-term programs had no influ-
ence on compassion fatigue, burnout, perceived stress, and resilience; however, both
programs positively affected compassion satisfaction. We recommend that further
studies be conducted, which will help determine the effectiveness of new programs.
Impact: Caring for patients with cancer can generate work-related stress that can
negatively affect oncology nurses’ physical and emotional health, which could lead
to compassion fatigue. The program provided nurses with an opportunity to improve
their compassion satisfaction. Because there was no difference between both pro-
grams regarding mean compassion satisfaction scores, a short-term program may
be preferred to encourage more participation among nurses. We also recommend
mailto:
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1406-5123
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3512-296X
mailto:tpehlivan14@ku.edu.tr
http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1111%2Fjan.14568&domain=pdf&date_stamp=2020-10-03
| 3585PEHLIVAN ANd GÜNER
1 | I N T R O D U C T I O N
Cancer is a chronic disease that symbolizes the limitation of con-
trol over life and death and creates many physical and psychoso-
cial problems in patients (Wang et al., 2018). The disease and its
accompanying problems challenge not only patients and families
but also the healthcare team that provides treatment and care
(Onan & Işıl, 2010). Frequent exposure to specific conditions,
such as complex cancer treatments and patient deaths, is a sig-
nificant source of stress for oncology nurses (Wilczek-Rużyczka
et al., 2019). Every day, nurses witness patients’ pain and suffering,
engage in intensive treatment, are frequently exposed to death
and dying patients, face ethical dilemmas associated with cancer
treatment, and develop close relationships with those fighting the
disease (Jones, 2017). Exposing themselves to the pain and suf-
fering, developing close relationships, and demonstrating well-de-
veloped empathy and compassion may cause nurses to experience
compassion fatigue (CF), along with decreased compassion satis-
faction (CS) (Jang et al., 2016). In addition, the increasing num-
ber of patients, excessive workload, and shortage of free time are
cited as reasons for increased job stress and burnout among on-
cology nurses according to the literature (Tuna & Baykal, 2014).
High levels of job stress negatively affect nurses’ continuance
commitment, turnover rates, patient satisfaction, and patient
safety, as well as increase burnout (Grunfeld et al., 2005). Duarte
and Pinto-Gouveia (2017) showed that approximately 25% of on-
cology nurses experienced high levels of burnout, CF, and lower
levels of CS, while Ja and Hyunjoo (2017) determined high levels
of secondary traumatic stress (STS) in 27.9%, burnout in 35% and
CS in 25.7% of nurses.
1.1 | Background
Known as a negative consequence of helping individuals experienc-
ing traumatic events or suffering, CF has an adverse effect on physi-
cal and mental health as well as on job performance and satisfaction
(Arimon-Pagès et al., 2019). Additionally, CF was found to increase
nurse turnover rates in institutions, decrease patient satisfaction,
reduce the quality of patient care, and pose a risk to patient safety
(Mooney et al., 2017). Consequently, it can be concluded that at-
tempts to prevent or reduce CF are inevitable.
According to literature examining the methods of interven-
tional studies conducted to prevent CF in oncology nurses, two
of the most effective initiatives are institutional arrangements and
training programs (Fetter, 2012; Yu et al., 2016). Yu et al. (2016)
recommended conducting specific training programs for oncology
nurses to raise awareness of possible negative effects when caring
for cancer patients. It is also necessary to increase nurse resilience
by helping them recognize and cope with CF (Rishel, 2015) and
nurses should be directed to education and training programs that
will improve their resilience (Gillman et al., 2015). The Compassion
Fatigue Resiliency Program (CFRP) is a structured, comprehensive
training program developed for nurses to prevent and minimize CF
and improve resilience. Studies examining the implementation of
CFRPs for oncology nurses (Back et al., 2014; Potter, et al., 2013;
Potter et al., 2013) showed that it was effective in preventing CF.
When interventional studies on CFRPs were examined, samples
were found to be small (Flarity et al., 2016; Pfaff et al., 2017;
Potter, et al., 2013), almost all studies were quasi-experimental,
comprising subjects assigned to the same group for pre- and post-
test (Flarity et al., 2016; Pfaff et al., 2017; Potter, et al., 2013),
and all programs were implemented for a term of 5 weeks. These
studies recommended examining the program’s effectiveness
with larger samples, particularly conducting randomized con-
trolled trials using quantitative methods and conducting a short-
term program and following-up its effectiveness for up to 1 year
(Flarity et al., 2013; Kim & Park, 2016; Pfaff et al., 2017; Potter,
et al., 2013).
2 | T H E S T U DY
2.1 | Aims
Considering the gaps in the literature, this study aimed to implement
a CFRP for oncology nurses as a short-term and long-term program
and to compare its impact on the nurses’ professional quality of life
(CF, burnout, CS), PS, and resilience.
further studies should be conducted that include environmental improvements along
with the training programs.
Trial registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (The name of the trial register: Effect of a
Compassion Fatigue Resiliency Program; the clinical trial registration number:
NCT04372303).
K E Y W O R D S
burnout, compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction, oncology–haematology nurses,
perceived stress, resilience
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2.2 | Design
The research was conducted as a randomized controlled trial.
2.3 | Setting and participants
The research was conducted with nurses from the oncology–hae-
matology inpatient services, outpatient chemotherapy units, and
bone marrow transplant (BMT) units of three private hospitals in
Istanbul between January 2017 and January 2019. No sample se-
lection models were applied and of 153 nurses working in these
services, 125 nurses meeting the inclusion criteria were included
in the study. Nurses were randomly assigned to the Experimental I,
Experimental II, or control group to prevent interaction between the
subjects working in the same hospital. Of the nurses, 34 completed
the short-term program (Experimental I), 49 completed the long-
term (Experimental II), and 42 were assigned to the control group
(Figure 1).
2.3.1 | Inclusion criteria
• Nurses working in inpatient oncology–haematology, outpatient
chemotherapy, or BMT unit
2.3.2 | Exclusion criteria
• Providing care for paediatric oncology patients
• Being a nurse manager
• Not providing direct patient care
2.4 | Data collection
2.4.1 | Personal information form
A personal information form included 14 questions about socio-de-
mographics, occupational information, and working conditions, and
the level of received social support.
2.4.2 | Professional quality of life scale-IV (ProQOL-
IV)
The ProQOL-IV, developed by Stamm (2005) and adapted to Turkish
by Yeşil et al. (2010), is a self-reporting instrument consisting of 30
items and 3 subscales: CF, CS, and burnout. The scale has no total
score. Each subscale is evaluated separately. Items 1, 4, 15, 17, and
29 should be reversed scored during the evaluation. The evaluation
process of items was based on a six-digit chart ranging from “never”
(0) to “very often” (5). In the Turkish adaptation, the Cronbach’s alpha
reliability coefficients were found to be 0.83, 0.62, and 0.81 for com-
passion fatigue, burnout, and compassion satisfaction, respectively
(Yeşil et al., 2010). There was no cut-off point in the validity and reli-
ability study of the Turkish version; however, Stamm (2005) stated in
their evaluation performed with high- and low-range groups of 25%
that scores above 17 indicate high CF levels while scores below 8 in-
dicate low, scores below 18 indicate low burnout levels while scores
above 27 indicate high, and scores above 42 indicate high CS levels
while those below 33 indicate low.
2.4.3 | Perceived stress scale
The Perceived Stress Scale, developed by Cohen et al. (1983) and
adapted to Turkish by Eskin et al. (2013), uses a five-point Likert
scale with four reverse worded items (4, 5, 7, & 8) and six positively
worded items (1, 2, 3, 6, 9, & 10). There are three versions of the
scale consisting of 14, 10, and 4 items. The Cronbach’s alpha reliabil-
ity coefficient was found to be 0.82 in the Turkish adaptation of the
10-point version. It was developed to measure the degree to which
individuals perceived their life as unpredictable, uncontrollable, and
overloaded during the previous month. The lowest possible score is
0 and the highest is 40. A high total score is considered a high level
of PS.
2.4.4 | Resilience scale for adults
The Resilience Scale for Adults, developed by Friborg et al. (2005),
and adapted to Turkish by Basım and Çetin (2011) has a lowest possi-
ble score of 33 and a highest of 165. The Cronbach’s alpha reliability
coefficient of the sub-dimensions vary between 0.6-6-0.81. In addi-
tion, the value was calculated as 0.86 for the reliability of the whole
scale. Positive and negative factors are distributed on two sides of
the scale to prevent participants from prejudiced attitudes. In this
study, resilience increased in direct proportion to the scores.
2.5 | Ethical considerations
Research committee ethical approval was received from Koç
University Ethical Board of Biomedical Research on 22 December
2016 (No:2016.263.IRB2.124). Institutional permissions and verbal
and written informed consent of the nurses were obtained before
the study.
2.6 | Study procedure
This study’s principal investigator had participated online in a CFRP,
developed by Eric Gentry (Licensed Mental Health Counselor)
(2002), and received the certificate, and then conducted the pro-
gram with the nurses. Meetings were held with each institution’s
| 3587PEHLIVAN ANd GÜNER
F I G U R E 1 CONSORT Flow Diagram showing the number of nurses in the study and those who dropped out at the different stages of the
study [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
Assessed for eligibility (N = 153)
Excluded (N = 28)
Other reasons (Institution
did not plan program) (N =
28)
Lost to post-test (N = 0)
Lost to three-month follow-
up (N: 2)
Left the institution
Lost to six-month follow-up
(N: 7)
Left the institution
Lost to one-year follow-up
(N: 12)
Left the institution
Allocated to intervention
group I (N = 34)
Received the short-term
program (N = 34)
Allocated to control group
(N = 42)
Received no intervention
(N = 42)
Randomized (N = 125)
Enrollment
Allocated to intervention
group II (N = 49)
Received the long-term
program (N = 49)
Analysed at post-test (N =
34)
Allocation Allocation
Analysed at three-month
follow-up (N = 32)
Analysed at six-month
follow-up (N = 25)
Analysed at one-year
follow-up (N = 13)
Lost to post-test (N = 6)
Discontinued
intervention
Lost to three-month follow-
up (N: 0)
Lost to six-month follow-up
(N: 4)
Left the institution
Lost to one-year follow-up
(N: 8)
Left the institution
Follow-Up
Analysed at post-test (N =
43)
Lost to post-test (N = 2)
Left the institution
Lost to three-month follow-
up (N: 4)
Left the institution
Lost to six-month follow-up
(N: 7)
Left the institution
Lost to one-year follow-up
(N: 5)
Left the institution
Follow-Up
Analysed at post-test (N =
40)
Analysed at three-month
follow-up (N = 43)
Analysed at three-month
follow-up (N = 36)
Analysed at six-month
follow-up (N = 39)
Analysis Analysis
Analysed at one-year
follow-up (N = 31)
Analysed at six-month
follow-up (N = 29)
Analysed at one-year
follow-up (N = 24)
www.wileyonlinelibrary.com
3588 | PEHLIVAN ANd GÜNER
directorate of nursing services to determine the training schedules
and content. The schedules were planned in accordance with the
hospital administration’s preferences and by taking nurses’ busy
schedules into consideration. Preliminary tests were applied to
Experimental I, Experiment II, and the control group before the
training. Experimental I received a short-term program (5 hr per
day for 2 days, 10 hr in total) while Experimental II received a long-
term one (5 weeks, 2 hr per week, 10 hr in total). No intervention
was applied to the control group. After the training, a post-test and
3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-up assessments were conducted for
all groups.
2.7 | Program
2.7.1 | Compassion fatigue resiliency program
The purpose of the program: The purpose of the program is to provide
oncology–haematology nurses with knowledge and skills that will in-
crease their level of resilience by helping them recognize compassion
fatigue, cope with its consequences, and work effectively.
2.7.2 | The objectives of the training program
Nurses, who successfully complete the program, will be able to:
• Explain the historical development of compassion fatigue among
caregivers,
• Define the developmental process of compassion fatigue,
• Specify the risk factors for compassion fatigue,
• Explain the symptoms of compassion fatigue,
• Raise awareness about their personal history,
• Explain the concept of stress and its impact on the body,
• Apply compassion fatigue resilience skills acquired in the program,
• Professionally create a self-directed resilience plan.
2.8 | Validity and reliability
The included scales have been tested for validity and reliability for
various settings and countries (Çolak Sarı, 2018; Deible et al., 2015;
Rushton et al., 2015; Tarantino et al., 2013; Tekin, 2011; Traeger
et al., 2013). We chose three private hospitals in Istanbul, which are
considered to be close to each other, such as institution (etc. work-
ing conditions) and the socio-demographic and professional char-
acteristics of nurses (age, educational status, clinical experience,
willingness to work in oncology, voluntarily career choice, and etc.),
that are known to affect outcome variables. Then, we randomly as-
signed each hospital to the Experimental I, Experimental II, or con-
trol group to prevent interaction between the nurses working in the
same hospital. Finally, the program was conducted by the principal
investigator who had participated online in a CFRP and received the
certificate.
2.9 | Data analysis
SPSS 25.0 software package was used to analyse data. Prior to the
employment of parametric statistical techniques, the Shapiro–Wilk
test was used to ensure the data distributed normally. A chi-square
test and one-way ANOVA determined whether the scales and in-
formation on demographic characteristics and work environment
differed among pre-initiative groups; in other words, to measure ho-
mogeneity. There was a statistically significant difference between
the groups regarding age, total work hours per week, total years of
professional experience, total years of oncology experience, level of
received social support, and marital status (p < .05). The comparison
of the mean scores for nurses’ compassion fatigue, burnout, compas-
sion satisfaction, perceived stress, and resilience according to pre-
initiative groups is given in Table 1.
Variables found to be statistically significant were included in
the model as a correction factor for primary hypotheses. Primary
research hypotheses were analysed using multilevel models (MLM).
Variables
Experimental I
(N= 34)
Mean (SD)
Experimental II
(N= 49)
Mean (SD)
Control
(N= 42)
Mean (SD) p-Value
Compassion fatigue 15.2 (7.7) 12.4 (6.0) 13.5 (8.1) .198
Burnout 21.3 (6.7) 19.2 (6.8) 20.3 (6.8) .382
Compassion satisfaction 38.5 (7.4) 39.6 (6.7) 35.5 (7.8) .036*
Perceived stress 32.7 (3.1) 31.8 (3.6) 31.7 (3.5) .308
Resilience 139.4 (15.6) 133.3 (19.3) 134.7 (16) .261
Abbreviations: Experimental II, Long-term training group.
†Standard deviations are given in parentheses.
‡Experimental I, Short-term training group.
§p-Values indicate the statistically significant differences between groups.
¶Bold values indicate statistically significant values; SD: standard deviation.
*Post hoc analysis indicated a statistically significant difference between Experimental II and
control group.
T A B L E 1 Comparison of the baseline
mean scores of compassion fatigue,
burnout, compassion satisfaction,
perceived stress, and resilience among
groups (N: 125)
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This analysis method has some advantages over others, such as
repeated measures ANOVA. These advantages can be defined as
the ability to deal with missing data in MLM and be included in
the analysis process of investigating individual differences (ran-
dom effect) (Tab achnick & Fidell, 2015). Consequently, MLM was
used to analyse the data. In the analysis process, distribution of
the random intercepts and slopes was determined, and models
were compared using log-likelihood function based on different
correlation assumptions for repeated measures and random ef-
fects. Then, the effect of group, time, and group X time interac-
tions and other explanatory variables were included in the model
and the final model-based results were reported. In the process of
T A B L E 2 Baseline characteristics of nurses (N: 125)
Characteristics
Experimental I
(N= 34)
N (%)
Experimental II
(N= 49)
N (%)
Control
(N= 42)
N (%)
Educational status
Vocational high school 7 (14.3) 5 (14.7) 5 (11.9)
Associate's degree 2 (4.1) 4 (11.8) 3 (7.1)
Bachelor's degree 35 (71.4) 21 (61.8) 32 (76.2)
Postgraduate 5 (10.2) 4 (11.8) 2 (4.8)
Level of received social support
Enough 10 (20.4) 13 (38.2) 20 (47.6)
Not enough 39 (79.6) 21(61.8) 22 (52.4)
Willing to work in oncology
Yes 47 (95.9) 34 (100) 40 (95.2)
No 2 (4.1) 0 (0) 2 (4.8)
Voluntary career choice
Yes 38 (77.6) 27 (79.4) 28 (66.7)
No 11 (22.4) 7 (20.6) 14 (33.3)
Type of shift
Permanent day shift 8 (16.3) 11 (32.4) 12 (28.6)
Day-night shift 41 (83.7) 23 (67.6) 30 (71.4)
Gender
Female 44 (89.8) 32 (94.1) 36 (85.7)
Male 5 (10.2) 2 (5.9) 6 (14.3)
Marital status
Married 14 (28.6) 2 (5.9) 8 (19)
Single 35 (71.4) 32 (94.1) 34 (81)
Department
Oncology inpatient service 7 (14.3) 8 (23.5) 11 (26.2)
Haematology inpatient service 11 (22.4) 3 (8.8) 0 (0)
Oncology–haematology inpatient service 0 (0) 4 (11.8) 21 (50.0)
Bone marrow transplantation unit 24 (49.0) 12 (35.3) 0 (0)
Outpatient chemotherapy unit 7 (14.3) 7 (20.6) 10 (23.8)
Experimental I
Mean (SD)
Experimental II
Mean (SD)
Control
Mean (SD)
Age 25.0 (5.1) 27.8 (5.3) 27.2 (5.3)
Work hours per week 53.8 (4.7) 48.1 (3.8) 48.4 (1.6)
Work hours per day 11.1 (1.0) 11.5 (1.0) 11.5 (1.0)
Total years of nursing experience 3.0 (3.7) 5.6 (5.7) 4.9 (4.7)
Total years in the current department 1.9 (1.8) 2.9 (2.2) 3.3 (2.8)
Abbreviation: Experimental II, Long-term training groupSD, standard deviation.
†Percentage (%) values and standard deviations are given in parentheses.
‡Experimental I, Short-term training group.
3590 | PEHLIVAN ANd GÜNER
determining the most significant model, variables with a p-value
greater than 0.10 were removed, respectively, and variables with a
p-value of approximately 0.10 or less were kept in the model, while
p < .05 was considered significant.
3 | R E S U LT S
3.1 | Demographics
Baseline characteristics are given in Table 2.
3.2 | Multilevel model results of CF subscale
There was no statistically significant difference between the main
effect of the initiative (group) variable and the outcome variable of
CF (p = .541), indicating that there was no statistically significant
difference between groups regarding mean CF scores of nurses
receiving short-term training (mean = 16.43, SD 8.46), long-term
training (mean = 14.20, SD 8.17), or those in the control group
(mean = 14.93, SD 8.04). The effect of the time variable related
to the CF outcome variable was statistically significant (p < .001).
Further analysis of the time variable indicated that the 3-month
(mean = 15.45, SD 9.21), 6-month (mean = 16.49, SD 8.97), and
1-year (mean = 14.90, SD 8.05) follow-up scores of nurses were
greater than their pre-test mean scores (mean = 13.54, SD 7.25)
and the difference was statistically significant (Table 3). The group
X time interaction for the CF outcome variable was statistically
significant (p = .047). There was a statistically significant differ-
ence between groups over the time period regarding mean CF
scores. The difference between pre- and post-test measurements
in the group that received only long-term training was statistically
significant regarding the difference between pre- and post-test
measurements for the control group (Table 3).
3.3 | Multilevel model results of burnout subscale
There was no statistically significant difference between the main
effect of the initiative (group) variable and the burnout variable
(p = .227), indicating that there was no statistically significant dif-
ference between the groups regarding mean burnout scores of
nurses receiving short-term training (mean = 22.30, SD 7.22),
long-term training (mean = 20.05, SD 6.90), or those in the control
group (mean = 21.01, SD 6.89). The effect of the time variable re-
lated to the burnout outcome variable was statistically significant
(p = .009). Further analysis of the time variable indicated that
3-month (mean = 21.26, SD 7.45), 6-month (mean = 21.85, SD 6.97),
and 1-year (mean = 21.51, SD 7.19) follow-up scores of nurses were
greater than their pre-test mean scores (mean = 20.14, SD 6.77) and
the difference was statistically significant (Table 4). The group X time
interaction for the burnout outcome variable was not statistically
significant (p = .710). There was no statistically significant differ-
ence between groups over the time period regarding mean burnout
scores.
3.4 | Multilevel model results of CS subscale
A statistically significant difference was found between the main
effect of the initiative (group) variable and the CS outcome variable
(p < .001), indicating that there was a statistically significant differ-
ence between all groups regarding mean CS scores. Further analysis of
T A B L E 3 Multilevel analysis with compassion fatigue as
outcome variable
β SE [95% CI] p
Intercept 1.89 3.68 [−5.40, 9.17] .609
Experimental I
versus. Control
0.86 1.85 [−2.78, 4.50] .641
Experimental II
versus. Control
−1.66 1.71 [−5.04, 1.72] .335
Posttest 0.40 0.97 [−1.51, 2.32] .678
Three-month
follow-up
2.48 1.14 [0.22, 4.73] .031
Six-month follow-up 3.16 1.27 [0.67, 5.66] .013
One-year follow-up 3.83 1.37 [1.12, 6.54] .006
Marital status 3.83 1.59 [0.68, 6.98] .017
Level of received
social support
3.10 1.32 [0.49, 5.71] .021
Post-test
Experimental I
versus. Control
0.42 1.44 [−2.41, 3.25] .771
Experimental II
versus. Control
3.16 1.35 [0.51, 5.81] .020
Three-month
follow-up
Experimental I
versus. Control
−0.97 1.68 [−4.28, 2.34] .564
Experimental II
versus. Control
−0.71 1.56 [−3.78, 2.37] .650
Six-month follow-up
Experimental I
versus. Control
−1.05 1.87 [−4.73, 2.64] .577
Experimental II
versus. Control
0.61 1.70 [−2.73, 3.96] .718
One-year follow-up
Experimental I
versus. Control
−3.31 2.22 [−7.68, 1.07] .138
Experimental II
versus. Control
−2.37 1.84 [−6.01, 1.26] .199
Note: Experimental II, Long-term training group.
‡Bold values indicate statistically significant values.
§Control was the reference group; SE, standard error.
†Experimental I, Short-term training group.
| 3591PEHLIVAN ANd GÜNER
the group variable indicated that mean scores of nurses who received
short-term (mean = 37.84, SD 8.05) and long-term (mean = 39.49, SD
7.14) training were greater than the control group (mean = 33.84,
SD 8.85) and the difference was statistically significant (Table 5).
The effect of the time variable related to CS outcome variable was
statistically significant (p = .013). Further analysis of the time vari-
able indicated that the 1-year (mean = 36.06, SD 9.73) and 6-month
(mean = 36.32, SD 9.76) follow-up scores of nurses were less than
their pre-test mean scores (mean = 37.92, SD 7.40) and the difference
was statistically significant (Table 5). The group X time interaction for
the CS outcome variable was statistically significant (p = .23). There
was a statistically significant difference between groups over the pe-
riod regarding mean CS scores. The difference between the pre-test
and 6-month and the pre-test and 1-year measurements of nurses re-
ceiving the short- or long-term training was statistically significantly
higher than the pre-test and 6-month measurements and the pre-test
and 1-year measurements of nurses in the control group (Table 5).
3.5 | Multilevel model results of PS scale
There was no statistically significant difference between the main effect
of the initiative (group) variable and PS (p = .849). This results indicated
no statistically significant difference between the groups regarding
mean PS scores of nurses receiving short-term training (mean = 32.29,
SD 3.27), long-term training (mean = 31.55, SD 3.28), and those in the
control group (mean = 31.66, SD 3.96). The effect of the time variable
related to PS outcome variable was not statistically significant (p = .742).
The group X time interaction for the PS outcome variable was not statis-
tically significant (p = .510). There was no statistically significant differ-
ence in mean PS scores between groups over the period.
3.6 | Multilevel model results of the resilience scale
There was no statistically significant difference between the main
effect of the initiative (group) variable and resilience (p = .625).
T A B L E 4 Multilevel analysis with burnout as outcome variable
β SE [95% CI] p
Intercept −15.40 8.47 [−32.18, 1.38] .072
Experimental I
versus. Control
−2.16 1.55 [−5.22, 0.90] .165
Experimental II
versus. Control
−1.78 1.23 [−4.22, 0.66] .151
Post-test 0.49 0.50 [−0.48, 1.47] .321
Three-month
follow-up
1.11 0.59 [−0.04, 2.27] .050
Six-month
follow-up
2.15 0.65 [0.88, 3.42] <.001
One-year
follow-up
2.32 0.73 [0.88, 3.76] .002
Level of received
social support
2.07 1.08 [−0.08, 4.22] .058
Work hours per
week
0.45 0.16 [0.13, 0.77] .006
Type of shift 1.32 0.72 [−0.10, 2.74] .069
Marital status 2.75 1.32 [0.13, 5.36] .040
Department 0.88 0.45 [−0.01, 1.77] .053
Abbreviation: Experimental II, Long-term training group.
‡Bold values indicate statistically significant values.
§Control was the reference group; SE, standard error.
†Experimental I, Short-term training group.
T A B L E 5 Multilevel analysis with compassion satisfaction as
outcome variable
β SE [95% CI] p
Experimental I
versus. Control
5.60 1.82 [2.01, 9.19] .002
Experimental II
versus. Control
4.59 1.51 [1.62, 7.56] .003
Post-test 0.00 0.91 [−1.78, 1.78] .999
Three-month
follow-up
−0.96 1.07 [−3.06, 1.13] .366
Six-month follow-up −4.43 1.21 [−6.81, −2.06] <.001
One-year follow-up −5.89 1.34 [−8.52, −3.26] <.001
Level of received
social support
−2.63 1.22 [−5.03, −0.23] .032
Work hours per
week
−0.46 0.16 [−0.78, −0.13] .006
Posttest
Experimental I
versus. Control
−0.18 1.34 [−2.81, 2.46] .895
Experimental II
versus. Control
0.45 1.26 [−2.02, 2.92] .720
Three-month
follow-up
Experimental I
versus. Control
−0.55 1.57 [−3.63, 2.53] .724
Experimental II
versus. Control
0.14 1.46 [−2.71, 3.00] .921
Six-month follow-up
Experimental I
versus. Control
4.20 1.79 [0.69, 7.71] .019
Experimental II
versus. Control
3.75 1.62 [0.56, 6.93] .021
One-year follow-up
Experimental I
versus. Control
5.56 2.16 [1.31, 9.80] .010
Experimental II
versus. Control
5.12 1.80 [1.59, 8.65] .005
Abbreviation: Experimental II, Long-term training group.
‡Bold values indicate statistically significant values.
§Control was the reference group; SE, standard error.
†Experimental I, Short-term training group.
3592 | PEHLIVAN ANd GÜNER
This result indicated that there was no statistically significant dif-
ference between the groups regarding mean resilience scores of
nurses in Experimental I (mean = 135.18, SD 17.45), Experimental
II (mean = 131.62, SD 19.08), and control group (mean = 133.36, SD
16.59). The effect of the time variable related to the resilience out-
come variable was statistically significant (p = .005). Further analy-
sis indicated that the 3-month (mean = 131.15, SD 17.23), 6-month
(mean = 131.17, SD 19.55), and 1-year (mean = 130.82, SD 20.02)
follow-up scores of nurses were less than the pre-test mean scores
(mean = 135.43, SD 17.29) and the difference was statistically sig-
nificant (Table 6). The group X time interaction for the resilience
outcome variable was not statistically significant (p = .510). There
was no statistically significant difference in mean resilience scores
between groups over the period.
4 | D I S C U S S I O N
This study was the first to be conducted as a randomized controlled
trial of the effects of short- and long-term CFRP on CF, burnout, CS,
PS, and resilience.
4.1 | Results Obtained from the ProQOL Scale
In our study, both the short- and long-term CFRPs had no effect
on the nurses’ mean CF scores. Contrary to our study, some con-
ducted on a long-term training program (Back et al., 2014; Potter,
et al., 2013) showed that mean CF scores during the pre-training
period were statistically greater than those measured immediately
afterward and at the 6-month follow-up, while another study (Pfaff
et al., 2017) suggested no difference in mean CF scores. In addition,
other studies (Flarity et al., 2013; Flarity, et al., 2016) showed, con-
trary to our study, that there was a statistically significant decrease
in nurses’ mean CF scores measured immediately after the CFRP. In
our study, the mean CF scores of nurses receiving long-term training
were found to have increased immediately afterward. In our study,
contrary to other studies (Flarity, et al., 2016; Potter, et al., 2013),
the reason that there was no significant change in nurses’ mean CF
scores may be associated with low mean scores obtained at the begin-
ning of the study. Additionally, total years of nursing experience was
considerably low (nurses receiving short-term training (mean = 1.9,
SD 1.8); long-term training (mean = 2.9, SD 2.2); and control group
(mean = 3.3, SD 2.8)). Consequently, another reason that nurses’ CF
scores increased immediately afterward may be related to their en-
hanced CF awareness following the training. Our study suggests that
the gradual increase in mean CF scores may also be related to nurses’
heavy workloads, including time-consuming orientation and training
to newly hired nurses and other negative factors affecting turnover
rates in institutions, which was observed to be at high levels during
the research period. In fact, 45.6% of nurses left their institutions in
the year following this study.
In our study, both the short- and long-term CFRPs had no influence
on mean burnout scores. While this result is consistent with a study
(Pfaff et al., 2017), others (Flarity et al., 2013; Potter et al., 2013) sug-
gest the opposite. Two studies (Flarity et al., 2013; Potter et al., 2013)
showed that nurses’ mean burnout scores indicated a statistically sig-
nificant decrease after a 5-week CFRP; however, Pfaff et al. (2017)
showed no significant difference after a 6-week CFRP. In our study, the
reason that no significant change was found in mean burnout scores, as
in CF, may be related to low mean scores obtained at the beginning of
the study. In addition, limited work experience (nurses receiving short-
term training (mean = 1.9, SD 1.8); long-term training (mean = 2.9, SD
2.2); control group (mean = 3.3, SD 28)) may explain the low mean
scores for burnout. Another reason that the mean burnout scores in-
creased gradually may be related to organizational changes in hospi-
tals. Nurses assigned to public institutions during the study period may
have experienced an increase in work environment stressors such as a
heavy workload or reduced staffing. Recent studies (Pfaff et al., 2017;
Potter et al., 2013) performed evaluations immediately after the pro-
grams and thus long-term follow-up results could not be compared.
The results are not consistent with each other, so there is no certainty
of the long-term impact of CFRP on burnout mean scores.
Our study showed that the mean CS scores of nurses receiv-
ing either the short- or long-term training were greater than those
in the control group. In a study by Potter et al. (2013) evaluating a
5-week CFRP, the nurses experienced high levels of CS afterward.
Interestingly, our study indicated that mean scores for CS did not
change in either group immediately afterward, while they increased
at the 6-month and 1-year follow-ups. It was also observed that the
number of nurses leaving the institutions increased over the period.
T A B L E 6 Multilevel analysis with resilience as outcome variable
β SE [95% CI] p
Intercept 181.27 10.18 [161.11,
201.43]
<.001
Experimental I
versus. Control
2.24 3.31 [−4.32, 8.81] .500
Experimental II
versus. Control
−0.92 3.08 [−7.02, 5.18] .765
Posttest 0.18 1.33 [−2.44, 2.79] .894
Three-month
follow-up
−3.91 1.51 [−6.88, −0.94] .010
Six-month
follow-up
−4.43 1.63 [−7.64, −1.23] .007
One-year
follow-up
−4.59 1.83 [−8.19, −1.00] .013
Gender −9.36 4.09 [−17.47, −1.25] .024
Marital status −10.41 3.76 [−17.86, −2.96] .007
Type of shift −0.52 0.29 [−1.11, 0.06] .077
Level of received
social support
−8.78 2.73 [−14.18, −3.38] .002
Abbreviation: Experimental II, Long-term training group.
‡Bold values indicate statistically significant values.
§Control was the reference group; SE, standard error.
†Experimental I, Short-term training group.
| 3593PEHLIVAN ANd GÜNER
This result might be related to the fact that nurses with higher
mean scores for CS preferred to stay in their institution. In a study
conducted by Güner et al. (2018), a low level of CS was one of the
main reasons that oncology nurses would leave their institution, an-
swering “yes” to the question: “Would you leave oncology unit now
if you had a chance?” In addition, because there was no long-term
follow-up in the study conducted by Potter et al. (2013), only the
measurements obtained immediately after the program were com-
pared. Consequently, there is no sufficient evidence to prove long-
term impact of CFRPs and their effect on mean CS scores is unclear
according to the results of our study and literature review.
4.2 | Results obtained from the PS Scale
Our study showed that the short- and long-term CFRPs had no influ-
ence on the mean PS scores. However, Pfaff et al. (2017) showed that
mean clinical stress scores of oncology nurses participating in a 6-week
CFRP showed a statistically significant decrease afterward. The mean
PS scores of nurses in both groups were also found to fluctuate. This
result can be associated with the definition of the PS variable. It is
known that the effect of events considered to cause stress depends
on the individual assessment of the particular event as a stress factor
and perception may vary depending on the situation (Yerlikaya, 2009).
In this context, the concept of “PS” stands out, referring to the level
of stress individuals experience and its assessment as overloaded and
uncontrollable (Cohen et al., 1983). Consequently, PS levels reflect
the perception of subjective stress. At this point, subjective stress
perception and its influencing factors, depending on how individuals
perceived the determinants, may have led to fluctuations in the mean
PS scores of nurses receiving the short- or long-term training. A nurse
in our study who participated in the long-term training, for instance,
noted on the PS scale at the 3-month follow-up that: “I filled out the
questionnaire under the influence of premenstrual syndrome and needed
to indicate that it may affect the results of your study.”
4.3 | Results obtained from the resilience scale
for adults
Our study showed that the short- and long-term CFRPs had no influ-
ence on mean scores of resilience and, in fact, the scores decreased
in the two groups. Lowe (2013) stated that resilience consists of two
components – individual and environmental factors – and that inter-
action between the two improves the resilience level. The effect of
individual characteristics and environmental factors on the devel-
opment of resilience is undeniable. Consequently, in our study both
short- and long-term CFRPs may have had no influence on nurses’
mean resilience scores because no environmental improvements
were performed in the current program. In the literature, interven-
tional studies aimed to improve the resilience of oncology nurses,
indicated that institutional support plays an important role in improv-
ing the resilience level (Fitch et al., 2006; Sandgren et al., 2006). The
concept of resilience is also defined as an innate energy or motivating
life force (Waite & Richardson, 2004). Based on these definitions, de-
veloping resilience is not easy to achieve in a short time and this can
be associated with the insufficient outcomes of our study and the cur-
rent training program. In our study, the mean CF and burnout scores
increased unexpectedly. This may have caused nurses to experience
weakness that prevented them from developing resilience.
4.4 | Study limitations
There are some limitations to this research. First, the fact that nurses
left their institutions contributed to the low number of participants
at the one-year follow-up. Another limitation that may have affected
the outcome of the study was that some nurses working in private
hospitals made a transfer to public hospitals, which coincided with
the period when the research was conducted. The Turkish Ministry
of Health periodically opens employment opportunities for staff
nurses in state hospitals and nurses often prefer to work in pub-
lic hospitals. Suddenly, the increased workload in the private hos-
pitals, where the number of nurses decreased significantly, may
have negatively affected the outcome of the study. Therefore, the
effectiveness of the CFRP program can be concluded more pre-
cisely by repeating this first study. The fact that the hospitals where
the research was conducted had different characteristics (working
conditions, number of nurses, and facilities) may have also affected
outcome variables. Also, we recommend the study be repeated in
institutions with different characteristics, which may lead to differ-
ent results. Finally, the collected study data are based solely on the
nurses’ self-reporting.
5 | C O N C L U S I O N
This study, which attempted to determine the effects of a short- and
long-term CFRP on CF, burnout, CS, PS, and resilience, showed that
neither the short- nor long-term training had any influence on CF, burn-
out, PS, and resilience; however, both methods were found to posi-
tively affect CS levels. Because there was no difference between both
programs regarding mean CS scores, a short-term program may be pre-
ferred to encourage more participation among nurses. The results also
showed that neither the short- nor long-term CFRP training for nurses
had any influence on the mean scores for resilience and PS. Although
nurses receiving the training reported that the participant-centred
program had positive contributions, we recommend that further stud-
ies be conducted as randomized controlled trials and include 1-year
follow-ups to determine the effectiveness of a program implemented
for the first time. While the results did show that CFRP had a positive
effect on CS, neither the short- nor long-term programs showed ef-
fect on CF, burnout, PS, and resilience and thus oncology–haematol-
ogy nurses would not likely benefit from such a program, or would it
be cost effective. However, data obtained after new studies are con-
ducted may offer more specific findings about whether conducting
3594 | PEHLIVAN ANd GÜNER
this program with oncology–haematology nurses is beneficial or not.
While the literature indicates institutions should also take actions to
prevent CF and enhance resilience (Fetter, 2012; Yu et al., 2016), one
nurse participating in our study said: “Changing our perspective is okay,
but there is definitely a limit and it's hard to maintain. Institutional actions
also need to be taken.” Therefore, the impact of organizational factors
is also undeniable to prevent CF and improve resilience and we rec-
ommend further studies be conducted that include organizational ar-
rangements along with the training programs. Finally, conducting more
qualitative studies is recommended for in-depth measurement of such
social impacts as the perceptions and recommendations of the nurses,
as well as the training method of the program and characteristics of the
educators, which cannot be measured by quantitative studies.
A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T S
The authors would like to thank all nurses who participated in this
study for their valuable contributions. This study was presented as a
poster in the EONS 12 at the ESMO 2019 conference, Barcelona, 27
September–1 October 2019. An abstract was published in Annals of
Oncology, 30 (5), v847.
C O N F L I C T S O F I N T E R E S T
No conflict of interest has been declared by the author(s).
A U T H O R C O N T R I B U T I O N S
All authors have agreed on the final version and meet at least one of
the following criteria (recommended by the ICMJE): substantial contri-
butions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and
interpretation of data; drafting the article or revising it critically for
important intellectual content. T Pehlivan, P Güner: Made substantial
contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or anal-
ysis and interpretation of data; T Pehlivan, P Güner: Involved in draft-
ing the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual
content; T Pehlivan, P Güner: Given final approval of the version to
be published. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the
work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the con-
tent; T Pehlivan, P Güner: Agreed to be accountable for all aspects of
the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity
of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
P E E R R E V I E W
The peer review history for this article is available at https://publo
ns.com/publo n/10.1111/jan.14568.
O R C I D
Tuğba Pehlivan https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1406-5123
Perihan Güner https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3512-296X
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QOL of Home Health Care Patients
at SciVerse ScienceDirect
Asian Nursing Research 7 (2013) 53e60
Contents lists available
Asian Nursing Research
journal homepage: www.asian-nursingresearch.com
Research Article
Clinical Outcomes and Quality of Life of Home Health Care Patients
Suk Jung Han, PhD, RN,1,* Hyun Kyung Kim, PhD, RN, 2 Judith Storfjell, PhD, RN, FAAN, 3
Mi Ja Kim, PhD, RN, FAAN 3
1 Department of Nursing, Sahmyook University, Seoul, South Korea
2 College of Nursing, Chonbuk Research Institute of Nursing Science, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, South Korea
3 College of Nursing, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, United States
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 27 April 2012
Received in revised form
17 November 2012
Accepted 27 February 2013
Keywords:
activities of daily living
home care services
quality of life
* Correspondence to: Suk Jung Han, PhD, RN, Depa
University, Hwarangro-815 Nowon-gu, Seoul 139-742
E-mail address: fountain@syu.ac.kr
1976-1317/$ e see front matter Copyright � 2013, Ko
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anr.2013.03.002
s u m m a r y
Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the quality of life (QOL) in home health care patients according to
change in health status outcomes between the start of care and discharge or 60 days, whichever came
first.
Methods: This is a prospective descriptive study. The convenience sample consisted of 100 home health
care patients, who started receiving home health care services from a home health care agency in the
United States. The World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale-Brief (WHOQOL-BREF) was used for
measuring QOL; activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental ADLs were collected from the Outcome
and Assessment Information Set data via Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services-required home
health agencies. Descriptive statistics, paired t tests, and multiple linear regressions were used for data
analysis.
Results: ADLs and instrumental ADLs of participants significantly improved between start of care and
discharge or 60 days. Overall QOL, general health, and three of four QOL domains (physical, psychological,
and environmental, but not social domain) were significantly improved at discharge or 60 days.
Conclusion: Home health care nurses should maintain and improve the functional ability of patients, as
this could improve the QOL of these patients.
Copyright � 2013, Korean Society of Nursing Science. Published by Elsevier. All rights reserved.
Introduction
The home health care delivery system in the United States has
expanded as the demand for the care of acute/chronic health
problems increased, particularly among the growing elderly pop-
ulation (Kirby & Lau, 2010). Medicare-certified home health
agencies grew in number from 6,809 in 2001 to 10,422 in 2008
(Dey, Johnson, Pagerowski, Tanamor, & Ward, 2011) and provided
care for more than 3 million Americans in 2010 (Centers for
Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS], 2010). Contemporary socio-
political and economic forces have also influenced the home health
care environment (Dieckmann, 2005). Following the downturn of
Medicare home health care by the Balanced Budget Act in 1997,
home health care began to recover under the home health pro-
spective payment system (Murkofsky & Alston, 2009). Demand for
home care services increased not only because of increasing elderly
population, but also because of consumer preference and
rtment of Nursing, Sahmyook
, South Korea.
rean Society of Nursing Science. P
technological advances that allowed complex care to be delivered
at home (Ellenbecker, Porell, Samia, Byleckie, & Milburn, 2008).
Home health care services are available to all age groups, but 70.5%
of such patients were elderly people aged 65 years or above
(Caffrey, Sengupta, Moss, Harris-Kojetin, & Valverde, 2011; National
Center for Health Statistics, 2005). In the United States, utilization
of home health care services peaked in 1996 with 90.6 individuals
per 10,000 of population, but it decreased to 48.7 patients per
10,000 in 2000 (National Center for Health Statistics).
Determining objective outcomes of care became an important
issue as home health care visits and expenditures grew
(Shaughnessy et al., 1996). Hence, the CMS required home health
agencies to submit Outcome and Assessment Information Set
(OASIS) data for reimbursement. Thus, the CMS began to report
publicly the OASIS outcome data for all home health agencies in the
United States (CMS, 2003).
OASIS is a tool that evaluates the outcomes of home health
services (Shaughnessy & Crisler, 2005). It is a 79-item instrument
developed to provide a standardized collection of outcomes data in
the home health care setting (Shaughnessy et al., 2002). Its results
can be used for outcome-based quality improvement, prospective
ublished by Elsevier. All rights reserved.
mailto:fountain@syu.ac.kr
www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/19761317
http://www.asian-nursingresearch.com
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anr.2013.03.002
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anr.2013.03.002
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anr.2013.03.002
S.J. Han et al. / Asian Nursing Research 7 (2013) 53e6054
pay, and public reporting of quality data through the “Home Health
Compare” initiative (CMS, 2011). OASIS-based quality performance
has been reported by the CMS since 2003; it has shown how well
home health agencies assisted their patients in regaining or
maintaining their ability to function (CMS, 2011). Each agency’s
success in achieving positive outcomes on designated OASIS mea-
sures was compared to the agency’s previous performance and to
that of other agencies (Keepnews, Capitman, & Rosati, 2004).
Evaluation of OASIS data focuses on agency performance on
specific patient outcomes, including changes in a patient’s health
status between two or more time points. While OASIS provides
basic data on the outcomes of home health services, it lacks a
measure of quality of life (QOL) of care recipients. QOL has been
used increasingly as an important parameter of health and well-
being. QOL is defined as individuals’ perception of their position
in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they
live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards, and
concerns (WHOQOL Group, 1994). In clinical practice and clinical
trials, QOL indicators are used to evaluate treatment in terms of
human costs and benefits. QOL has also been used to make de-
cisions regarding allocation of health care services (Hadorn, 1991).
Contemporary goals of treatment are expected to include reducing
the severity of symptoms, improving functional status, and
improving general QOL (Fletcher, Hunt, & Bulpitt, 1987). QOL
research may help predict the course of disease, the process of
recovery, the usefulness of therapeutic interventions, the need for
specific services, or prognostic indicators of survival duration
(DeVon & Ferrans, 2003; Montazeri, 2009). As the population ages
and health care evolves in its emphasis from acute care to chronic
care, the assessment of QOL will help our comprehensive under-
standing of its relationship with patient outcomes of home health
care service (Fortinsky & Madigan, 2004). Individuals’ subjective
perceptions of physical health, psychological health, social func-
tioning, and environment are called "subjective quality of life" and
are independent determinants of wellness and disease burden in
patients. There is general agreement that subjective QOL is a multi-
factor-determined construct (Jung et al., 2012).
Even when medical treatment may appear successful, home
care patients may have poor psychosocial functioning, adjustment
to illness, or QOL. Hence, inclusion of QOL measures could allow for
more comprehensive evaluation of the efficacy of treatment and/or
home health care (Buck, Jacoby, Massey, & Ford, 2000). Yet few
studies have addressed how home health care influences patients’
QOL.
This research aimed to fill the gap and compared QOL outcomes
as well as functional outcomes of patients who received home
health care service between start of care and discharge or 60 days,
whichever came first. Client outcomes are defined as changes in
health status resulting from health care activities or interventions
(Urden, 2001). Improved client outcomes often result from the
combined effect of personal resources and activities plus assistance
from professional providers (Holzemer, 1992). The specific aims of
this study were to (a) compare the clinical outcomes of home
health care patients between the start of care and discharge or 60
days, whichever came first, (b) compare home health care patients’
QOL between start of care and at 60 days or at discharge and (c)
identify the determinants of changes in quality of life in home
health care patients.
Methods
Study design
This is a prospective descriptive study using a structured
questionnaire.
Setting and samples
A convenience sample of 110 patients who received home health
care services from a home health care agency was recruited; the
agency was affiliated with a hospital in a metropolitan city in the
United States. The inclusion criteria were the following: Patients
were (a) enrolled in a certified home health care agency, (b) were
45 years old and older, (c) had intact cognitive status and no mental
disorder, and (d) had no difficulty in communication in English. The
sample size was calculated by G*Power program using alpha at .05,
power (1 e b) ¼ .95, and an effect size of .35. The estimated sample
size was 70.
Ethical considerations
Institutional review board (protocol no. 2008-0445) approvals
were received from the University of Illinois at Chicago and the
hospital that had formal affiliation with the home health care
agency. Patients who met the inclusion criteria were identified and
approached by home health care nurses who were trained for the
study. Those who agreed to participate completed a consent form,
and arrangements were made for an appointment to complete the
questionnaire.
Measurements
Clinical outcomes
Patient clinical outcome was measured at start of care and at
discharge or after 60 days of service, whichever came first. Clinical
outcomes were assessed by using a total of 14 items from OASIS,
which included 8 items in activities of daily living (ADLs) and 6
items in instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs). While the
ADL represents health status as well as necessary ability for inde-
pendent living, IADL reflects the level of instrumental indepen-
dence. ADL items were grooming, ability to dress upper body,
ability to dress lower body, bathing, ability to wash entire body,
toileting, transferring, ambulation/locomotion, and feeding or
eating. Items for IADL included planning and preparing light meals,
transportation, laundry, housekeeping, shopping, and ability to use
telephone. Within the OASIS, individual items assess different as-
pects of functional performance. The individual items have
different levels of scoring. For all ADLs and IADLs, a value of 0 in-
dicates complete independence and is the best score possible. Ac-
cording to Scharpf and Madigan (2010), using the corrected Likert
approach puts all of the individual ADLs and IADLs on the same
scale, ranging from 0 to 1. For ease of interpretation across all items,
they were reversely coded (Table 1).
The total clinical outcome score was then computed by sum-
ming the individually adjusted items for a range in ADLs from 0 to 8,
with 0 indicating total dependence in functional items as a group
and 8 indicating complete independence, and in IADLs a range from
0 to 6, with 0 indicating total dependence in all items as a group and
6 indicating complete independence. Higher scores indicated
higher clinical outcomes.
To combine the 8 ADL items that were measured with different
scales into a single index, each item was rescored on a scale of 0e1
and then recoded to reverse the direction of scoring. The same
process was applied to the 6 IADL items. Recoding was done to
reflect level of independence, rather than dependence; this
enhanced ease of interpretation of the results: the magnitude of
improvement rather than decline was evaluated (Keepnews et al.,
2004). "Improvement" meant improved status of ADL and IADL
from start of care to discharge or 60 days, and "decline" and "un-
changed" meant, respectively, decreased status or no changes in
ADL and IADL between the two time points.
Table 2 General Characteristics of Participants (N ¼ 100)
Characteristics Categories n (%) M (SD)
Age (yr) �64 37 (37.0) 69.90 (11.92)
65e74 26 (26.0)
75e84 26 (26.0)
�85 11 (11.0)
Gender Male 37 (37.0)
Female 63 (63.0)
Race/ethnicity White 80 (80.0)
Asian 8 (8.0)
Black or African
American
10 (10.0)
Hispanic or Latino 1 (1.0)
Native Hawaiian or
Pacific Islander
1 (1.0)
Marital status Married 33 (33.0)
Single 29 (29.0)
Widowed 25 (25.0)
Divorced 13 (13.0)
Education �5th grade 4 (4.0)
Junior high school 4 (4.0)
High school 43 (43.0)
College 32 (32.0)
>College 17 (17.0)
Annual income < $20,000 40 (40.0)
$20,000e30,000 10 (10.0)
$30,000e40,000 9 (9.0)
$40,000e50,000 9 (9.0)
>$50,000 21 (21.0)
Unknown 11 (11.0)
Current
residence
Patient-owned or
rented residence
83 (83.0)
Family member’s
residence
14 (14.0)
Board & care or
assisted living
facility
2 (2.0)
Others 1 (1.0)
Living
arrangementa
Alone 38 (42.7)
With spouse or
significant other
27 (30.3)
With other family
member
22 (24.7)
With a friend 2 (2.2)
Payment source Medicare 33 (33.0)
Medicaid 9 (9.0)
Private insurance 28 (28.0)
Medicare þ private
insurance
27 (27.0)
Others 3 (3.0)
Primary caregiver No 21 (21.0)
Spouse or significant
other
32 (32.0)
Daughter or son 27 (27.0)
Other family member 13 (13.0)
Friend, neighbor,
community or church
member
3 (3.0)
Paid help 4 (4.0)
ICD-9 code Health services for specific
procedures & after care
42 (42.0)
Disease of the
respiratory system
14 (14.0)
Disease of the
circulatory system
13 (13.0)
Injury and poisons (e.g.,
fracture, open wound)
11 (11.0)
Disease of the skin 6 (6.0)
Symptom, signs and
ill-defined condition
6 (6.0)
Table 1 OASIS Measures Used in Functional Status Index
OASIS item Range Conversion to ADL 8 and IADL 6 items
0 1 2 3 4 5
ADL items
Grooming 0e3 1 .67 .33 0
Dress upper body 0e3 1 .67 .33 0
Dress lower body 0e3 1 .67 .33 0
Bathing 0e5 1 .80 .60 .40 .20 0
Toileting 0e4 1 .75 .50 .25 0
Transferring 0e5 1 .80 .60 .40 .20 0
Ambulation 0e5 1 .80 .60 .40 .20 0
Feeding or eating 0e5 1 .80 .60 .40 .20 0
IADL items
Plan/prepare light meals 0e2 1 .50 0
Transportation 0e2 1 .50 0
Laundry 0e2 1 .50 0
Housekeeping 0e4 1 .75 .50 .25 0
Shopping 0e3 1 .67 .33 0
Telephone 0e5 1 .80 .60 .40 .20 0
Note. OASIS ¼ outcome and assessment information set; ADL ¼ activities of daily
living; IADL ¼ instrumental activities of daily living.
S.J. Han et al. / Asian Nursing Research 7 (2013) 53e60 55
Internal consistency, Cronbach’s coefficient alphas were .86 in
ADL and .75 in IADL in the present study. Only one study that re-
ported the criterion-related validity of the scales was found,
showing a correlation of .44e.69 in the ADL and .20e.68 in the IADL
(Tullai-McGuinness, Madigan, & Fortinsky, 2009).
QOL
The World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale-Brief
(WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire (Bonomi & Patrick, 1997;
WHOQoL Group, 1995) was used to measure perceived QOL. It
consists of 2 global items (overall QOL and general health) and 24
items in the domains of physical, psychological, social relationship,
and environmental. The physical domain covers pain, energy, and
medication needs (7 items). The psychological domain explores
feelings about the meaning of life, capacity of concentration, physical
appearance, and feelings of desperation (6 items). The social re-
lationships domain is concerned with friend support and sexual
satisfaction (3 items). The environmental domain covers perceived
security in daily life, individual satisfaction about transport, and
personal impressions about health services (8 items). The score of
each domain is found by multiplying the calculated mean value of
the items belonging to the component and thus ranges from 4 to 20
(Skevington, Lotfy, & O’Connell, 2004).
Internal consistency, Cronbach’s alphas were between .66 and
.84 when it was developed (WHO,1998). In the present study, these
were between .73 and .91 (.91 in total quality of life, .81 in physical
domain, .76 in psychological domain, .73 in social relationship
domain, .78 in environmental domain). The validity and reliability
were tested in the study of Skevington et al. (2004) with a sample
size of 11,830 from 23 countries.
General characteristics
General characteristics included items such as age, gender, race/
ethnicity, marital status, education, annual income status, current
residence, living arrangement, primary caregiver, patient’s disease
classification according to the International Classification of
Diseases-9 code, payment source, duration of service (from start of
care to discharge or 60 days ), and number of registered nurse visits.
Neoplasms 4 (4.0)
Disease of the nervous
system
2 (2.0)
(continued on next page)
Data collection
Data were collected using a questionnaire between November
2008 and December 2009. Trained home health care nurses visited
Table 2 (continued )
Characteristics Categories n (%) M (SD)
Service duration
(day)
�20 38 (38.0) 30.35 (18.00)
21e30 25 (25.0)
31e40 15 (15.0)
41e50 9 (9.0)
51e60 13 (13.0)
No. of RN visits �5 28 (28.0) 8.54 (5.62)
6e7 29 (20.0)
8e9 18 (27.0)
�10 25 (25.0)
Note. ICD-9 ¼ international classification of diseases; RN ¼ registered nurse.
a Missing value excluded.
S.J. Han et al. / Asian Nursing Research 7 (2013) 53e6056
home health care patients and asked if they would be willing to
participate in a research project. If they agreed, home health nurses
explained about the study purpose and procedure and asked them
if they had any questions, and then obtained written consents.
Face-to-face interviews followed, using a structured questionnaire
that included a demographic profile. The questionnaires were
completed by home health nurses based on the interviews. ADL and
IADL were measured by home health nurses as a part of OASIS data
and QOL was self-reported. Each interview took 30e45 minutes.
Duration of home health care services prescribed by physician in
the United States is 60 days. The the order needs to be renewed
afterwards. In addition, OASIS data in the healthcare agencies are
collected as start of care, and at discharge or 60-day follow up.
Therefore the questionnaires were collected at the start of care and
at discharge or 60 days, whichever came first.
At the end of each interview, US$5 was given to patients for their
participation. Among the 110 participants, 1 was admitted to a
nursing home; 1 passed away; 8 patients did not finish the ques-
tionnaire at discharge or 60 days. A total of 100 patients completed
in this study.
Data analysis
Data were analyzed by SPSS version 17.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL,
USA). Descriptive statistics were used to summarize all data. Paired
t test was used to compare data between admission and at
discharge or 60 days. McNemar’s test was used to compare
Table 3 Comparison of ADL and IADL between SOC and Discharge or 60 Days (N ¼ 100)
Variables SOC Discharge Change t p
M (SD) M (SD) M (SD)
ADL Grooming 0.74 (0.18) 0.93 (0.16) 0.19 (0.21) 9.06 <.
Dress upper body 0.70 (0.21) 0.92 (0.18) 0.22 (0.19) 11.33 <.
Dress lower body 0.56 (0.28) 0.86 (0.23) 0.30 (0.25) 12.10 <.
Bathing 0.50 (0.29) 0.74 (0.26) 0.24 (0.27) 8.74 <.
Toileting 0.91 (0.15) 0.98 (0.12) 0.07 (0.15) 4.38 <.
Transferring 0.83 (0.10) 0.89 (0.11) 0.06 (0.10) 5.67 <.
Ambulation 0.81 (0.12) 0.86 (0.10) 0.05 (0.10) 5.22 <.
Feeding or eating 0.88 (0.12) 0.97 (0.10) 0.09 (0.10) 9.00 <.
Total ADL 5.93 (1.11) 7.14 (0.92) 1.21 (0.91) 13.33 <.
IADL Plan/prepare light meals 0.50 (0.31) 0.86 (0.28) 0.35 (0.30) 11.77 <.
Transportation 0.50 (0.10) 0.59 (0.19) 0.09 (0.19) 4.50 <.
Laundry 0.07 (0.17) 0.70 (0.37) 0.24 (0.33) 7.29 <.
Housekeeping 0.27 (0.34) 0.56 (0.37) 0.29 (0.36) 8.23 <.
Shopping 0.28 (0.20) 0.52 (0.28) 0.24 (0.24) 10.27 <.
Telephone 0.96 (0.14) 0.97 (0.12) 0.02 (0.11) 1.69 .
Total IADL 2.57 (0.88) 3.80 (1.21) 1.23 (0.99) 12.38 <.
Note. ADL ¼ activities of daily living; IADL ¼ instrumental activities of daily living; SOC
a p is calculated by paired t test.
b Exact Chi-square test for equal proportion among improvement, decline, and uncha
percentage of participants reporting good QOL and bad QOL be-
tween start of care and discharge or 60 days. Chi-square test was
used to compare proportion differences among improvement,
decline, and unchanged in ADL and IADL between the two time
points. Multiple linear regression was used to identify factors which
affected the differences in QOL.
Results
General characteristics of participants
Participant characteristics are shown in Table 2. As can be seen,
the mean age of the 100 participants was 69.9 years, and 63% of
them were over 65 years old. The sample was predominantly fe-
male (63%), White (80%), had at least a high school education (92%),
and lived in their own homes or rented residences (83%). Among
participants, 33% were married and 29% single; 43% lived alone, and
30% lived with a spouse or significant other. Home health fees were
reimbursed by Medicare (33%), private insurance (28%), or both
Medicare and private insurance (27%). Primary caregivers were
spouses or significant others for 32%. According to the International
Classification of Diseases-9 codes, 42% of participants were cate-
gorized as "health services for specific procedures and after care".
Home care service was received for 30 days or less by 63%, and the
mean frequency of registered nurse visits was 8.5 days, ranging
from 3 to 38 days.
Clinical outcomes between the start of care and discharge or 60 days
Clinical outcomes of participants between the start of care and
discharge or 60 days, as measured by OASIS items, are presented in
Table 3. The total mean score of ADL at the start of care and at
discharge or 60 days was 5.93 and 7.14, respectively, showing a
significant increase of 1.21 (t ¼ 13.33, p < .001). The total mean
score of IADL at the start of care and discharge or 60 days was 2.57
and 3.80, respectively, showing a significant increase of 1.23
(t ¼ 12.38, p < .001).
As measured by the sum of the 8 ADL items, 90% of participants
showed improvement in total ADL, 3% showed a decline, and 7%
remained unchanged (c2 ¼ 144.74, p < .001). In terms of individual
a Unit change c2b p
Improvement (%) Decline (%) Unchanged (%)
1 unit �2 units 1 unit �2 units
001 54 2 1 1 42 47.12 <.001
001 58 4 1 0 37 56.00 <.001
001 47 21 0 0 32 12.96 <.001
001 30 33 0 2 35 55.94 <.001
001 27 1 0 1 71 74.78 <.001
001 30 0 2 0 68 65.84 <.001
001 24 1 1 0 74 83.06 <.001
001 45 0 0 0 55 1.00 .317
001 90% 3% 7% 144.74 <.001
001 59 6 1 0 34 61.46 <.001
001 17 0 0 0 83 43.56 <.001
001 33 8 1 0 58 51.38 <.001
001 16 35 2 0 47 44.42 <.001
001 46 13 0 0 41 3.24 .072
095 3 4 1 1 91 150.02 <.001
001 90% 1% 9% 145.46 <.001
¼ start of care.
nged.
S.J. Han et al. / Asian Nursing Research 7 (2013) 53e60 57
ADL items, participants showed the most improvement in dress
lower body (68%), followed by bathing (63%) and dress upper body
(62%).
Unit change means the change of score between start of care
and discharge. If the score at start of care was 1 and then the score
changes to 0 at discharge, that is called 1 unit change. ADL items
that showed marked improvement by more than 2 units included
bathing (33%) and dress lower body (21%). On the other hand, 0e2%
of participants showed a decline, and 32e74% remained unchanged
for these same items. The most unchanged item was ambulation
(74%), followed by toileting (71%) and transferring (68%).
As measured by the sum of the 6 IADL items, 90% of participants
showed improvement, 1% declined, and 9% remained unchanged
(c2 ¼ 145.46, p < .001). When analyzed by individual IADL items,
the percentages of improved participants varied from 7% to 65%.
Plan/prepare light meals (65%) was the most improved item, fol-
lowed by shopping (59%) and housekeeping (51%). The most
markedly improved item by more than 2 units was housekeeping
(35%). On the other hand, 0e2% of participants showed a decline in
housekeeping. For each IADL item, 34e91% of participants
remained unchanged. The most unchanged item was ability to use
telephone (91%), followed by transportation (83%) and laundry
(58%).
QOL between the start of care and discharge or 60 days
A comparison of QOL between the start of care and discharge or
60 days is shown in Table 4. Overall QOL was significantly improved
at discharge or 60 days compared to that at start of care, showing a
mean increase of 0.37 (t ¼ 3.46, p ¼ .001). Sixty percent of partic-
ipants at start of care and 85% at discharge or 60 days reported good
QOL, while the difference between the two time points was sig-
nificant by McNemar’s test (p < .001). General health at discharge
or 60 days was significantly improved compared to that at the start
of care, showing a mean increase of 0.85 (t ¼ 7.51, p < .001). Thirty
percent of participants at the start of care and 74% at discharge or
60 days reported being satisfied with their general health
(p < .001).
Mean domain scores ranged from 12.09 (physical domain) to
16.95 (social domain) at start of care and from 15.17 (physical
domain) to 17.33 (social domain) at discharge or 60 days. The
biggest change was in the physical domain (M ¼ 3.08, SD ¼ 2.73).
All QOL domains except the social domain were significantly
improved at discharge or 60 days compared to the level at the start
of care, including physical (t ¼ 10.58, p < .001), psychosocial
(t ¼ 5.18, p < .001), and environmental (t ¼ 6.58, p < .001). Spe-
cifically, the physical domain, which showed the lowest score at
start of care (M ¼ 12.09, SD ¼ 2.41), was most improved at discharge
Table 4 Comparison of QOL between SOC and Discharge or 60 Days
Variables (range) SOC Discharge Change t pa
M (SD) M (SD) M (SD)
Overall QOL (1e5) 3.70 (0.98) 4.06 (0.73) 0.37 (1.04) 3.46 .001
Good n (%) 60 (60) 85 (85) <.001b
Not good n (%) 40 (40) 15 (15)
General health (1e5) 2.98 (1.04) 3.83 (0.90) 0.85 (1.13) 7.51 <.001
Satisfied n (%) 30 (30) 74 (74) <.001b
Unsatisfied n (%) 70 (70) 26 (26)
Physical (4e20) 12.09 (2.41) 15.17 (2.31) 3.08 (2.73) 10.58 <.001
Psychological (4e20) 14.80 (2.28) 16.13 (2.19) 1.33 (2.48) 5.18 <.001
Social (4e20) 16.95 (2.62) 17.33 (2.34) 0.38 (2.21) 1.73 .087
Environmental (4e20) 15.49 (2.01) 16.80 (1.94) 1.31 (1.88) 6.58 <.001
Note. QOL ¼ quality of life; SOC ¼ start of care.
a p calculated by paired t test.
b p calculated by McNemar test.
or 60 days (M ¼ 15.17, SD ¼ 2.31), whereas the social domain, which
showed the highest score at start of care (M ¼ 16.95, SD ¼ 2.62), was
least improved at discharge or 60 days (M ¼ 17.23, SD ¼ 2.34).
Determinants of change in QOL
Multiple linear regressions were used to identify determinants
of QOL change, and the results are shown in Table 5. Before using
multiple linear regression, QOL change according to general char-
acteristics, ADL, and IADL were tested using t test, analysis of
variance, or correlation analysis. Only variables statistically signif-
icant were included as independent variables for multiple linear
regression.
First, correlation between variables, tolerance, and variance
inflation factor were tested to identify multicollinearity. The vari-
ance inflation factor ranged from 1.201 to 4.007, indicating no
multicollinearity. Independent variables included age, service
duration, number of registered nurse visits, ADL at start of care,
IADL at start of care, ADL change, and IADL change; dependent
variables included the four domains of QOL.
When analyzed by domains of QOL, the regression models of the
domains physical (F ¼ 3.66, p ¼ .002), psychological (F ¼ 2.58,
p ¼ .019), social (F ¼ 2.27, p ¼ .035) and environmental (F ¼ 5.22,
p < .001) QOL were statistically significant. Physical domain was
significantly explained by age, ADL at start of care, and ADL change
(adjusted R2 ¼ .168, p ¼ .002). Psychological domain was signifi-
cantly explained by ADL at start of care, ADL change, IADL at start of
care, and IADL change (adjusted R2 ¼ .107, p ¼ .019). Social domain
was significantly explained by the number of registered nurse visits
only (adjusted R2 ¼ .083, p ¼ .035). Service duration, age, ADL at
start of care, ADL change, and IADL change were statistically
significantly explained by the change in environmental QOL
(adjusted R2 ¼ .251, p < .001).
Discussion
The effects of home health care service on clinical outcomes,
including ADL and IADL, and on changes in QOL were examined in
100 home care patients in one U.S. home care agency. Functional
status is important because it is necessary for independent living
and QOL (Scharpf & Madigan, 2010; Shaughnessy et al., 2002). Most
recently, Madigan et al. (2012) reiterated the importance of func-
tional capacity as a key factor in maintaining the ability of older
people to live independently and safely at home and as a key focus
area for home health care. In this study, both clinical outcomes (in
terms of ADL and IADL) and QOL were significantly improved at
discharge or 60 days compared with the levels at the start of care.
Clinical outcomes, ADL, and IADL
The ADL score included capacity for daily self-care, which is
essential for ensuring independent living and contributes impor-
tantly to overall QOL (Drewnowski & Evans, 2001). Maintaining
daily functions without assistance may be the most salient outcome
variable. Seven million Americans aged more than 65 years depend
on others for help with some basic tasks of daily living (Ory & Cox,
1994). While the ADL data represent health status as well as
necessary ability for independent living, IADL reflects the level of
instrumental independence.
In this study, 90% of participants improved in both ADL and
IADL. This finding compares favorably with that of Keepnews et al.
(2004), who reported improvement of both ADL and IADL in 78% of
1,051 home care patients who received home health care for less
than 60 days. Hadley, Rabin, Epstein, Stein, and Rimes (2000)
examined functional status of patients at the time of discharge
Table 5 Factors Influencing the Relationship of Functional Outcome and QOL between SOC and Discharge or 60 Days
Variables QOL domains
Physical Psychological Social Environmental
Ba bb t p Ba bb t p Ba bb t p Ba bb t p
(Constant) 11.17 2.02 .047 e6.33 2.12 .037 e3.53 1.35 .182 7.94 3.63 <.001
Service duration e0.02 e0.07 e0.60 .553 e0.01 e0.08 e0.71 .477 0.01 0.07 0.63 .528 0.03 0.27 2.48 .015
No. of RN visit e0.04 e0.05 e0.45 .653 0.06 0.14 1.18 .240 e0.10 e0.25 e2.23 .028 e0.04 e0.10 e0.92 .360
Age 0.09 0.22 2.06 .042 0.04 0.20 1.80 .075 0.04 0.19 1.81 .073 0.05 0.32 3.21 .002
ADL at SOC 2.05 0.49 2.53 .013 1.24 0.54 2.84 .006 0.43 0.22 1.13 .262 0.91 0.52 2.92 .005
ADL change 2.16 0.42 2.86 .005 1.21 0.44 2.94 .004 0.51 0.21 1.43 .155 1.28 0.61 4.39 <.001
IADL at SOC 0.77 0.15 0.94 .350 1.17 0.42 2.70 .008 0.40 0.16 1.02 .311 0.46 0.22 1.53 .130
IADL change 1.03 0.22 1.74 .086 0.91 0.34 2.71 .008 0.15 0.07 0.55 .585 0.49 0.27 2.21 .030
Adjusted R2 ¼ .168 Adjusted R2 ¼ .107 Adjusted R2 ¼ .083 Adjusted R2 ¼ .251
F ¼ 3.66 F ¼ 2.58 F ¼ 2.27 F ¼ 5.22
p ¼ .002 p ¼ .019 p ¼ .035 p < .001
Note. QOL ¼ quality of life; SOC ¼ start of care; RN ¼ registered nurse.
a B is the unstandardized regression coefficient.
b b is the standardized regression coefficient.
S.J. Han et al. / Asian Nursing Research 7 (2013) 53e6058
from the hospital and 6 months later. They reported that functional
status of patients who received home health care showed more
improvement than that of nonusers of the home care service.
Scharpf and Madigan (2010) compared ADL in OASIS of patients
with heart failure who received home health care at start of care
and at discharge, and found that 86% experienced improvement or
stayed the same. In that study, each item of ADL improved from
0.03 to 0.17 compared to the improvement from 0.05 to 0.30 in this
study. The most improved item was dress lower body followed by
bathing, the same finding as in Scharpf and Madigan’s research on
functional status outcome measures in home health care patients
with heart failure.
Hadley et al. (2000) analyzed the effect of posthospitalization
home health care use on the change in functional status for a
sample of 2,127 (over 65 years of age) Medicare beneficiaries who
participated in Medicare’s Current Beneficiary Survey for 6 months
after hospital discharge. Home health care users experienced
greater improvement in functional status than nonusers, as
measured by the change in a continuous scale based on the number
and mix of ADL and IADL before and after hospitalization. The
estimated improvement in functional status could be as large as
13% for a 10% increase in home health care use.
From a clinical perspective, it may be advantageous to use the
individual ADL change scores, particularly the bathing score
because bathing is a complex task, requiring multiple kinds of
movements (transfer, use of upper and lower limbs) and may be a
proxy representation of how well these patients can manage their
self-care (Scharpf & Madigan, 2010).
Studies about the effectiveness of home health care on stabi-
lizing or improving patients’ functional status are limited, and the
results were mixed. The conflicting findings may be due, in part, to
the numerous chronic health problems experienced by home
health care patients. In addition, home health care patients usually
experience a downward trajectory of these conditions, requiring
home health care goals aimed at slowing the progression of disease
and minimizing symptoms rather than improving them.
QOL and functional outcomes
Subjects showed higher scores in most QOL items. Using 12.0 as
the scale midpoint where QOL was judged to be neither good nor
poor, the means indicated that QOL was above average. Skevington
et al. (2004) analyzed QOL assessment as measured by WHOQOL-
BREF from a survey of adults performed in 23 countries
(n ¼ 11,830). The mean score in the United States for each domain of
QOL ranged from 11.7 (social domain) to 15.5 (physical domain).
The mean score of the physical domain at start of care in this
study was lower, but the meanscores of other domains were higher
compared to those in Skevington et al. (2004). Particularly, mean
scores of all domains at discharge or 60 days in this study were
higher than start of care. Generally, the higher QOL found in this
study might be explained by differences in participants of the
two studies, such as health status and income. In our sample, 80%
were White, and only 9% got Medicaid service, whereas those in
Skevington et al.’s study were sampled from the general population
in hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and primary care settings with
respect to quotas of important sociodemographic variables.
The results of this study showed that QOL was significantly
improved at discharge or 60 days compared to the QOL at start of
care. When analyzed by domains, social domain was not signifi-
cantly improved, and this might be related to considerably high
scores of social QOL at start of care.
Social domain is not affected by age, marital status, and edu-
cation in rural areas. On the other hand, the presence of chronic
disease and dependency in daily activities and lifestyle affect the
social domain. In those with disease and the bedridden, social
domain scores were the lowest (Arslantas, Unsal, Metintas, Koc, &
Arslantas, 2009). Among ADLs, for the item of ambulation/loco-
motion which is related to dependence, at start of care, only 1% of
participants in this study were "chairfast, unable to ambulate but
able to wheel self independently," 14% were “able to walk only with
the supervision or assistance of another person at all times,” 65%
“[required] use of a device to walk alone,” and 20% were “able to
independently walk.” At discharge or 60 days, all were independent
except for 2% who were “able to walk only with the supervision or
assistance of another person at all times.” Although social QOL
improved after home health care service, relatively high indepen-
dence at start of care might have prevented the results from
showing a statistically significant improvement.
Naylor et al. (2004) examined the effectiveness of a 3-month
Advanced Practice Nurse (APN)-directed discharge planning and
home follow-up protocol (transitional care intervention) in elders
with heart failure. The intervention group reported greater overall
QOL at 12 weeks (p < .05), and in the physical dimension at 2 weeks
(p < .01) and 12 weeks (p < .05). However, statistically significant
group differences in functional status did not emerge, although less
dependency was, on average, observed. Alexy, Benjamin-Coleman,
and Brown (2001) did not find any significant changes in QOL be-
tween start of care and discharge in studying functional status and
QOL of Medicare home health clients at admission to home care
and 30 days after admission. Difficulty in collecting both baseline
and 30-day post home care admission data on each individual in a
S.J. Han et al. / Asian Nursing Research 7 (2013) 53e60 59
timely fashion resulted in a very small sample (n ¼ 17), which was
the likely reason for the nonsignificant findings.
Helvik, Engedal, and Selbaek (2010) explored factors that
affected QOL using the WHOQOL-BREF in older patients (M ¼ 82.8
years) who were admitted to the hospital. Their QOL was lower in
all domains (physical domain at 12.6, environmental domain at 14.9)
compared to that of this study. Their findings differed from our
study, possibly due to their sample’s older age and severity of
problems, as indicated by their admission to the hospital rather than
to the nursing home. The multiple regression models of QOL do-
mains and independent health-related variables were adjusted for
each other. Three of four QOL domains (physical, psychological, and
environmental, but not the social domain) were associated with ADL.
Poor ADL was associated with a poorer QOL because a worse score in
the ADL scale is an indicator of worse physical health. Poor physical
health is known to influence QOL negatively (Helvik et al.).
When Jeon and Choi (2010) investigated factors that influenced
the health-related QOL of young-old men, old-old men, and oldest-
old men in vulnerable age who received home care, they found
correlations between IADL and health-related QOL of young-old
(65e74 yr) (r ¼ .302, p < .05), old-old (75e84 yr) (r ¼ 315,
p < .05), and oldest-old (85 or above) (r ¼ .293, p < .05). Also, IADL
was one of the predictors in explaining the level of health-related
QOL among vulnerable old men (who is Basic Livelihood Security
and received home care from public health center).
Tseng and Wang (2001) explored subjectively perceived QOL as
measured by the QOL IndexeNursing Home Version and related
factors of elderly nursing home residents. ADL (r ¼ .491, p < .05)
had a significantly positive relationship with QOL, and ADL was one
of the important predictors of QOL.
Since the functional dependence level of patients and their
ability to execute the ADL are meaningful to their QOL, these will
have a direct effect on QOL. The relationships among the three di-
mensions of QOL, need, and health behaviors were examined by
Baernholdt, Hinton, Yan, Rose, and Mattos (2011) in a nationally
representative sample of adults aged 65 years and older from the
National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2005e2006). In
bivariate analysis, they found that the need variable, ADL function,
memory problems, and depression were associated with all three
QOL dimensions, including health-related QOL, social functioning,
and emotional well-being. However, only ADL was associated with
all three dimensions of QOL in their full models, suggesting the
importance of ADL to QOL.
ADL and physical environment showed significant relationships
with QOL in a study of community-based older adults in Canada
(Low & Molzahn, 2007). Level of dependency in ADL and level of
help received can affect the overall QOL (Hellstrom, Perssion, &
Hallberg, 2004).
As early as 1999, the Agency for Healthcare Research and
Quality pointed out the importance of focusing on functional
outcomes research. The OASIS tool offered an opportunity to
incorporate standardized outcome data not previously available to
home health care researchers (Keepnews et al., 2004). The CMS,
administrator and payer of the Medicare program for aged and
disabled Americans, has provided home health care agencies with
several types of reports based on the OASIS. Internal agency re-
ports included the number of patients whose conditions improved
versus those who declined or stayed the same, at the individual
ADL item level. There are also public reports, available on the
"Home Health Compare" website. These provide agency-level in-
formation on the percentage of patients who improved in specific
ADL items. While helpful for targeting specific ADL items, a
composite score may also be beneficial in agency quality
improvement programs, as it would identify trends in patient
populations. For instance, higher levels of functional impairments
at discharge from home health care may require addressing clin-
ical care differently during and after home health care (Scharpf &
Madigan, 2010).
Nurses recognized the importance of functional status as a pa-
tient clinical/health outcome and as an important measure of
quality of nursing care over two decades ago (American Nurses
Association, 1992). Functional status was often measured by inde-
pendence in ADLs and IADLs (Roberts, 1999). A meaningful differ-
ence in ADL and IADL for home health care would guide policy and
practice decisions for nurses as to what level of change is possible
and attainable.
Limitations
This study explored the effect of home health care on the clinical
outcomes and QOL. The study may have excluded other variables
that could contribute to these variables. Future studies are needed
to demonstrate the benefits of providing home health care with
bigger sample sizes, a comparison group, and more comprehensive
measures on QOL. Although ADL and IADL items in OASIS have been
widely used at the home healthcare agencies in the United States,
little evidence for the validity and relatively low criterion-related
validity reported in a previous study (Tullai-McGuinness &
Madigan, 2009) might limit the interpretation of the results in
this study. Because the endpoint of measurement was defined in
two ways (at discharge or 60 days), the time difference from start of
care may not be the same for each subject.
Conclusion
Home care services provided by registered nurses using the
items of OASIS have shown improved clinical outcomes and QOL
after 60 days of home health care. Major improvements in ADL
were dressing lower body and bathing and in IADL were preparing
light meals, shopping, and housekeeping. ADL and IADL were
important predictors of QOL in three of the four QOL domains
(physical, psychological, and environmental, but not the social
domain). Home health care nurses should focus on improving the
functional ability of patients, as they play a key role in making a
difference in the lives of these patients who stay at home and
receive essential home care.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest. This research
received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public,
commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Acknowledgments
We thank Pat Koepp and Sharmila Rao for their support, and
Suzanne Dunne, LeeAnn Wittenstrom, Conchita Penaranda, and
Sun Ok Jang who helped collect data. We acknowledge Dr. Cathy
Christenson for her guidance, Ji Sung Lee for statistical consultation,
and Kevin Grandfield, Publication Manager for the University of
Illinois at Chicago Department of Biobehavioral Health Science, for
editorial assistance.
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Clinical Outcomes and Quality of Life of Home Health Care Patients
Introduction
Methods
Study design
Setting and samples
Ethical considerations
Measurements
Clinical outcomes
QOL
General characteristics
Data collection
Data analysis
Results
General characteristics of participants
Clinical outcomes between the start of care and discharge or 60 days
QOL between the start of care and discharge or 60 days
Determinants of change in QOL
Discussion
Clinical outcomes, ADL, and IADL
QOL and functional outcomes
Limitations
Conclusion
Conflict of interest
Acknowledgments
References
RCT of NCM Diabetes Mgmt
Original Research
Diabetes Nurse Case Management in a Canadian Tertiary Care Setting:
Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial
Danni Li MD a, Tom Elliott MBBS a,b, Gerri Klein RN, CDE a,b, Ehud Ur MBBS a, Tricia S. Tang PhD a,*
a Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
b BC Diabetes, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 2 May 2016
Received in revised form
17 October 2016
Accepted 21 October 2016
Keywords:
diabetes nurse case manager
randomized controlled trial
tertiary care setting
diabetes distress
psychosocial outcomes
a b s t r a c t
Objectives: To examine the effects of a 6-month nurse case manager (NCM) intervention compared to stan-
dard care (SC) on glycemic control and diabetes distress in a Canadian tertiary-care setting.
Methods: We recruited 140 adults with type 2 diabetes and glycated hemoglobin (A1C) levels >8%
(64 mmol/mol) from 2 tertiary care facilities and randomized them to: 1) a 6-month NCM intervention
in addition to SC or 2) SC by the primary endocrinologists. Assessments were conducted at baseline and
at 6 months. Primary outcomes included A1C levels and diabetes distress scores (DDS). Secondary out-
comes included body mass index, blood pressure, diabetes-related behaviour measures, depressive symp-
toms, self-motivation and perception of support.
Results: At the 6-month follow up, the NCM group experienced larger reductions in A1C levels of −0.73%
compared to the SC group (p=0.027; n=134). The NCM group also showed an additional reduction of −0.40
(26% reduction) in DDS compared to those in the SC group (p=0.001; n=134). The NCM group had lower
blood pressure, ate more fruit and vegetables, exercised more, checked their feet more frequently, were
more motivated, were less depressed and perceived more support. There were no changes and no group
differences in terms of body mass index, medication compliance or frequency of testing.
Conclusions: Compared to SC, NCM intervention was more effective in improving glycemic control and
reducing diabetes distress. It is, therefore, a viable adjunct to standard diabetes care in the tertiary care
setting, particularly for patients at high risk and with poor control.
© 2017 Canadian Diabetes Association.
Mots clés :
infirmière gestionnaire de cas de diabète
essai clinique à répartition aléatoire
cadre des soins tertiaires
détresse liée au diabète
critères de jugement psychosociaux
r é s u m é
Objectifs : Examiner les effets de l’intervention de 6 mois d’une infirmière gestionnaire de cas (IGC) par
rapport aux effets des soins courants (SC) sur la régulation de la glycémie et la détresse liée au diabète
dans le cadre canadien des soins tertiaires.
Méthodes : Nous avons recruté 140 adultes atteints du diabète de type 2 qui avaient des concentrations
d’hémoglobine glyquée (A1c)>8% (64 mmol/mol) de 2 établissements de soins tertiaires et les avons répartis
de manière aléatoire comme suit : 1) intervention de 6 mois d’une IGC en plus des SC ou 2) SC par les
endocrinologues traitants. Les évaluations ont été réalisées au début et après 6 mois. Les critères de jugement
principaux étaient les concentrations de l’A1c et les scores de la détresse liée au diabète (SDD). Les critères
secondaires étaient les suivants : l’indice de masse corporelle, la pression artérielle, les mesures du
comportement lié au diabète, les symptômes de dépression, la motivation personnelle et la perception
du soutien.
Résultats : Au suivi après 6 mois, le groupe IGC montrait des réductions plus grandes des concentrations
de l’A1c de −0,73% que celles du groupe SC (p=0,027; n=134). En plus, le groupe IGC montrait une réduction
des SDD de −0,40 (réduction de 26%) par rapport au groupe SC (p=0,001; n=134). Les adultes du groupe
IGC avaient une pression artérielle plus basse, mangeaient plus de fruits et de légumes, faisaient plus
d’exercice, vérifiaient leurs pieds plus fréquemment, étaient plus motivés, étaient moins dépressifs et
s’apercevaient d’un plus grand soutien. Il n’y avait aucun changement et aucune différence entre les groupes
en ce qui concerne l’indice de masse corporelle, l’observance thérapeutique ou la fréquence des analyses.
* Address for correspondence: Tricia S. Tang, PhD, University of British Columbia, 2775 Laurel Street, Suite 10211, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V5Z 1M9.
E-mail address: tricia.tang@vch.ca
Can J Diabetes 41 (2017) 297–304
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Canadian Journal of Diabetes
j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e :
w w w. c a n a d i a n j o u r n a l o f d i a b e t e s . c o m
1499-2671 © 2017 Canadian Diabetes Association.
The Canadian Diabetes Association is the registered owner of the name Diabetes Canada.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcjd.2016.10.012
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For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright ©2021. Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
mailto:tricia.tang@vch.ca
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcjd.2016.10.012
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/14992671
http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1016/j.jcjd.2016.10.012&domain=pdf
Conclusions : Comparativement aux SC, l’intervention d’une IGC était plus efficace pour améliorer la régulation
de la glycémie et réduire la détresse liée au diabète. Par conséquent, il s’agit d’un complément viable aux
soins courants offerts aux diabétiques dans le cadre des soins tertiaires, particulièrement chez les patients
exposés à un risque élevé qui ont une régulation médiocre.
© 2017 Canadian Diabetes Association.
Introduction
The prevalence of diabetes is rising worldwide, primarily because
of an aging and increasingly obese population. In 2010, 2.7 million
(7.6%) people in Canada were diagnosed with diabetes, and this
number is projected to reach 4.2 million (10.8%) by 2020 (1). Dia-
betes and its associated complications are a significant burden on
the Canadian economy, costing $11.7 billion in 2010 and expected
to rise to $16 billion by 2020 (1).
Despite compelling evidence that tight glucose control can
prevent or delay complications (2), outcomes are poor, and improve-
ments are needed. For instance, among 3002 Canadian patients in
a primary care setting, Braga et al (3) found that 30%, 39% and 53%
achieved treatment targets for blood pressure (BP), glycated hemo-
globin (A1C) and cholesterol, respectively. Moreover, only 7%
achieved all 3 goals. Clearly, greater efforts are needed to help
patients improve diabetes-related health outcomes in Canada.
Among the various models investigated to improve diabetes care
delivery, case management has produced the most favourable evi-
dence (4,5). In fact, a meta-analysis of 11 different quality-
improvement strategies for diabetes care found that interventions
involving case-management strategies led to the greatest reduc-
tions in A1C levels (5). Case management encompasses the assess-
ment, implementation, coordination and monitoring of options and
services required to meet individual health needs (6). It can include
patients’ education, coaching, treatment adjustment, monitoring and
care coordination (7).
Several systematic and integrative reviews have shown diabe-
tes case management interventions to be effective in improving gly-
cemic control (6–10) by up to 0.89% (6). In addition, a study of 556
patients receiving care in a Veteran Affairs healthcare system found
that, compared to controls, a greater proportion of patients ran-
domized to a nurse case manager (NCM) intervention achieved the
collective treatment target for A1C levels, BP and low-density lipo-
protein levels (11).
Although there is overwhelming evidence supporting NCM
models in the treatment of diabetes, these studies have been con-
ducted predominantly in primary care and community-based set-
tings in the United States and Europe (6). In fact, of the 29 case
management studies in the meta-analysis of Welch et al (6), only
1 study was conducted with patients attending a tertiary care clinic
in Canada. That randomized controlled trial of 46 patients with dia-
betes found a significant reduction in A1C levels associated with a
telephone-based nursing intervention compared to standard care
conditions (12). However, the study recruited patients with both
type 1 and type 2 diabetes requiring insulin, and it focused on insulin
titration to the exclusion of other core self-management issues, such
as healthful eating, physical activity and psychosocial well-being.
To our knowledge, no studies of NCM-assisted patients with dia-
betes have been conducted in a Canadian tertiary care setting that
focus on comprehensive care of patients with type 2 diabetes only
who are being treated with oral agents and/or insulin.
The current study is the first randomized controlled trial (RCT)
to evaluate the impact of NCM intervention for patients with poorly
controlled type 2 diabetes who were recently discharged from 2 ter-
tiary care hospitals in Canada or referred by tertiary hospital-
affiliated endocrinologists. In addition, this Canadian-based study
is the first to include both a primary clinical outcome (A1C levels)
and a psychosocial outcome (diabetes distress).
Methods
Study design, setting and population
This study was approved by the University of British Columbia
and Providence Health Clinical Research Ethics Boards. It is an RCT
of a 6-month NCM intervention compared to standard care (SC). The
study was initiated in September 2012, enrollment was com-
pleted in July 2014, and follow up was completed in January 2015.
The protocol is viewable at https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/
NCT01659294.
The study was conducted at BCDiabetes.ca, based in the Gordon
and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre. The centre is the main ter-
tiary care centre in Vancouver, British Columbia, and brings together
outpatient services at Vancouver General Hospital, including spe-
cialty clinics, along with medication education, physician teach-
ing clinics and research, at a single site.
Inclusion/exclusion criteria
To be eligible for the study, patients had to 1) have physician-
diagnosed type 2 diabetes; 2) be ≥18 years of age; (3) have A1C levels
≥8% and 4) to be able to read and write English. Patients were
excluded if they had previously worked with an NCM or had any
serious health conditions (e.g. terminal cancer), serious psychiat-
ric illness or self-reported excessive alcohol or illicit drug use that
would impede meaningful participation in the study.
Recruitment
Study participants were recruited using 2 streams: 1) patients
who had been recently discharged from 2 tertiary care hospitals in
Vancouver (Vancouver General Hospital or St. Paul’s Hospital) and
2) patients referred by endocrinologists affiliated with the 2 ter-
tiary care hospitals. If recruited from the hospital, the invitation to
participate in the study was made by a member of the treating endo-
crine team (endocrinology fellow or resident). The primary endo-
crinologist or the member of the team briefly described the study
and its eligibility criteria. The NCM contacted interested patients
and scheduled initial visits during which she described the study
in greater detail, obtained informed consent and conducted base-
line assessments. In the case of outpatient referrals, the invita-
tions came from the treating endocrinologist. These patients had
been referred to the treating endocrinologist by their community-
based family (primary) physician. All potential subjects who met
the study entry criteria were approached by treating endocrinolo-
gists to participate in the study. As such, participants were repre-
sentative of new diabetes referrals (with A1C levels >8.0) seen by
the referring endocrinologists.
Randomization process
Each participant was randomly assigned to the intervention or
control group by using a stratified permuted block randomization
scheme, with the endocrinologist being the sole stratification factor.
The permuted block aspect of the randomization scheme ensured
that treatment assignment remained balanced throughout the enrol-
ment period. Randomized assignments were completed in advance
and kept in individual, sealed, sequentially labelled envelopes that
were opened at the time of the randomization of each participant.
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https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01659294
Nurse case manager intervention
Nurse case management was conducted by a single individual,
GK, a certified diabetes educator with a master’s degree in nursing
and 37 years of nursing experience. The nurse received informal
in-house diabetes training by working with 1 of the endocrinologists.
The general principle (although not the exact framework) used
by the NCM was the Empowerment and Self-Management model
developed by Funnell and Anderson (13).
NCM intervention was an adjunct to standard care. Partici-
pants in the NCM group received a 60-minute initial consultation
with the NCM, followed by contact via telephone or e-mail or in
person at a minimum of every other week initially and, thereaf-
ter, as each participant warranted. The purpose of follow-up contact
was to monitor participants’ diabetes control, risk factors and man-
agement goals and to recommend treatment additions or modifi-
cations where desirable. There were 3 core components of the NCM
intervention: 1) diabetes self-management education and support;
2) monitoring and algorithm-driven treatment adjustment; and 3)
care coordination with other health professionals.
Diabetes education
A brief education-needs assessment was made. All partici-
pants were asked to talk about their conditions and to say what they
felt had contributed to their diagnoses and what had helped them
to handle their diabetes and what had not. Participants were asked
to read information that was given and then to explain what they
had read in their own words.
During the initial consultation prior to randomization, the NCM
delivered diabetes education and provided supplementary written
literature to patients.
Broad topics included the process of diabetes, health behaviour
changes, healthful eating, physical activity and the role of medi-
cation, the meaning of A1C levels, the role of blood glucose moni-
toring, short- and long-term complications, stress and coping.
Whenever participants were prescribed sulfonylureas and/or insulin,
they were educated in the concept of purposeful blood glucose moni-
toring (target driven) and were given home blood glucose moni-
tors and 10 strips.
All of the NCM participants were asked what their target goals
were: blood glucose, exercise, weight (and smoking cessation if rel-
evant) and where they felt comfortable. Informal contracts between
participants and educators were discussed and implemented, either
in writing in the nursing notes or verbally, laying out a plan of what
the participants and nurses were to do.
Participants were given diabetes-related information in their
mother tongue where possible. Literacy was evaluated at consent,
when the participants were asked to read the consent form and
restate them in their own words. Some could not read English at
the level required for understanding and, therefore, were not given
written diabetes information. Picture-based materials from the Cana-
dian Diabetes Association were offered to those who appeared to
benefit from such materials. Those able to read at sufficient levels
of understanding were given written diabetes-related informa-
tion from the Canadian Diabetes Association and BCDiabetes.ca; free
literature from local big-chain pharmacies was offered; when appro-
priate, participants were given the book Understand Your Diabetes
(14).
Discussions where initiated about what was good information
and what was not so good. Other Internet sources were accessed
and discussed as ways of discovering what to believe and what not
to listen to.
Monitoring and algorithm-driven treatment adjustment
Participants randomized to the NCM cohort were reviewed by
the NCM at intervals determined and driven by the results of
purposeful blood glucose monitoring; glucose targets were deter-
mined by the referring endocrinologist. Participants were instructed
by the NCM to communicate their blood glucose monitoring results
by e-mail or phone. The NCM offered feedback and intervention
when they were considered appropriate. Blood pressure readings
and targets were discussed with participants; when medication
adjustments were considered desirable, the NCM communicated
directly with the endocrinologist. With respect to insulin adjust-
ment, the NCM independently adjusted insulin according to the fol-
lowing algorithms: 1) for once-daily basal insulin adjustment, target
fasting glucose levels were 5 mmol/L to 7 mmol/L. Patients were
encouraged to make daily adjustments in dose (default incre-
ments of 2 U for above-target and decrements of 4 U for below target,
no change for to-target values); 2) for twice-daily basal insulin,
fasting glucose targets were used to adjust evening insulin doses,
and evening blood glucose targets were used to adjust morning
insulin doses (same adjustment parameters as those for once-
daily basal insulin); 3) for prandial rapid insulin, participants were
asked to test before and 2 hours after meals; the before-meal targets
were 5 mmol/L to 7 mmol/L, and the 2-hour post meal targets were
5 mmol/L to 10 mmol/L. The NCM reviewed the concept of carbo-
hydrate counting and iterated the carbohydrate-to-insulin ratio.
Linkage to allied healthcare services
The NCM determined the need for adjunct interventions. When
indicated, and after consultation with endocrinologist and/or family
physicians, participants were referred to the following: outpa-
tient mental health clinics, smoking cessation clinics, physio-
therapy groups, nutrition counselling, social services and/or walking/
exercise/sports programs in the community.
Eye examination referrals were made to local expert optom-
etrists for all participants who had not had a retinal check in the
past year. Podiatric referrals were made when clinically indicated.
Specialist medical referrals for comorbid conditions were made as
necessary during the study by the treating endocrinologist.
With respect to communication between the participants and
the NCM, all participants were given the nurse’s contact informa-
tion (office phone, e-mail and, if on insulin, cell phone number).
The frequencies and dates and times of education and support were
agreed upon by the patients and the NCM. Patients who requested
more support accessed the NCM more often. The NCM would
follow up by phone or e-mail with patients new to insulin and set
up a contact schedule dependent upon patient preference and
reported blood sugar levels. Patients undergoing dose adjust-
ments contacted the NCM daily usually in the morning, with their
fasting blood sugar levels so as to gain assistance with dose adjust-
ments. However, once the patients were comfortable with the algo-
rithm, they managed their own dose adjustments independently
and contacted the NCM only for scheduled appointments. If the NCM
participant did not call at the expected time, the nurse called the
participant. After a third call by the nurse, all further calls were ini-
tiated by the participant unless for a further prearranged call.
With respect to diabetes-related distress and depression, dis-
cussion was initiated with all treatment participants about the asso-
ciation between depression and diabetes; answers to questions by
subjects in the study questionnaires were pursued. The nurse encour-
aged discussion about thoughts and feelings and about activities
the subjects enjoyed. Inquiries were made about alcohol and sub-
stance abuse and about access to counsellors or psychiatrists. Refer-
rals to psychiatrists were suggested and facilitated by the treating
endocrinologist, as necessary.
Standard care
Beyond the NCM’s arranging for the second and final visit at
6 months to collect study-specific data points, SC participants were
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managed entirely by the referring endocrinologist, who deter-
mined treatment parameters, made changes to treatment regi-
mens and scheduled follow-up appointments according to their usual
patterns of practice.
Participation and assessment
Participants in both the NCM group and the SC group com-
pleted baseline and 6-month assessments. A week prior to these
visits, participants were instructed to have their A1C levels mea-
sured at a self-selected laboratory. If no blood had been drawn prior
to the visit, blood was drawn on the day of the visit with the NCM,
and point-of-care A1C levels were measured at the time of the visit
so as to direct clinical decision making. At the NCM visit, partici-
pants had the following measured: BP, weight and height. Partici-
pants also completed a 20-minute self-report survey. Upon
completion, participants received a stipend of $20 for their time and
effort.
Outcomes and measurements
Primary outcomes included A1C levels and diabetes distress. The
A1C levels were measured at a participant-selected laboratory that
used standard high-performance liquid chromatography methods
on a machine calibrated to the national standard (mean 5.0%, top
of normal range = 6.0%). For participants who did not obtain blood
work at a laboratory prior to baseline and the 6-month assess-
ment, the NCM performed point-of-care testing using the Bayer
DCA2000+ Analyzer (Bayer, Keverkusen, Germany) (15). Diabetes
distress was assessed using the 17-item Diabetes Distress Scale (DDS)
developed by Polonsky and colleagues (16). The DDS measures emo-
tional distress and functioning as they relate to living with diabe-
tes. Responses are scored on a 6-point Likert scale (1 = no problem
to 6 = serious problem). A total score is derived by taking the mean
of all items. A score of <2 indicates low or no distress; a score of 2
through 2.9 indicates moderate distress; and a score of ≥3 indi-
cates high distress.
Secondary outcomes included clinical, behavioural and psycho-
social outcome measures.
BP was measured using an Omron Digital Blood Pressure Monitor
HEM-907 (Kyoto, Japan). Two upper-arm readings were taken, and
the average of the 2 was recorded. Height and weight were mea-
sured using the Health o meter mechanical eye-level upright stan-
dard physician’s scale with attached stadiometer (Sunbeam, Boca
Raton, Florida, United States). Body mass indexes were calculated
as weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared.
Self-management behaviours were assessed using items from
the Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities Measure, revised (17).
This instrument measures self-care behaviours, including diet, exer-
cise, blood-sugar testing and foot care. Participants were asked to
report the number of days in the past week (range, 0 to 7 days)
during which they performed specific self-care practices. Greater
numbers of days indicated better self-management. Medication
adherence was assessed using the 4-item Morisky scale that assesses
beliefs and behaviours associated with taking medications (18).
Responses were scored on a dichotomous scale: 0 = no, and 1 = yes.
A total score was calculated by adding up all items; lower scores
indicated better adherence.
Participant motivation was measured by the 13-item Patient Acti-
vation Measure, which assesses participants’ self-reported knowl-
edge, skills and confidence in managing their own health (19).
Diabetes-specific social support was assessed by a 4-item scale devel-
oped by Tang et al (20) that measures the amount of support and
satisfaction with that support by family members, friends and the
healthcare team. Depressive symptom severity was assessed using
the 9-item PRIME-MD Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) (21,22).
Demographic characteristics
Demographic characteristics included age, gender, years diag-
nosed with diabetes, ethnicity, marital status, education level, income
and employment status.
Sample size and power
Based on the current literature, an A1C level difference of 0.5%
or more was considered clinically significant. To achieve 80% power
in a 1-sided 0.05-level t test, a sample size of 72 subjects per arm
was considered necessary if the true difference in A1C levels between
the NCM group and the SC group was 0.5%. This assumed a stan-
dard deviation of the difference in A1C levels between baseline and
6 months of 1.2% and that it was common to both groups (23).
Although DDS was established as an additional primary outcome
at the onset of the study, it should be noted that sample size was
calculated with only A1C levels in mind. Furthermore, many sec-
ondary outcomes were included without changes in sample size.
Recognizing the importance of well-powered studies, caution should
thus be taken in interpreting the results.
Statistical analysis
Demographic characteristics of the sample are described as means
and standard deviations if they are continuous and as counts and
percentages if they are categorical. Baseline values for demo-
graphic and clinical variables were compared between the 2 arms
to identify potential confounding variables. Categorical variables were
assessed by chi-square tests, with Monte Carlo-simulated p values
when necessary.
Because the primary outcomes (A1C levels and diabetes dis-
tress) and the secondary outcomes are continuous measures, the
assessment of whether the mean differences between the 2 groups
were statistically significant was conducted using the Student t test,
adjusting for baseline values. No adjustment for multiple testing
was made.
A modified intention-to-treat approach was used, in which data
from all participants who provided baseline and follow-up out-
comes were included and analyzed based on NCM-SC group assign-
ments, regardless of whether each individual participant received
the assigned treatment.
Results
Study sample
There were 251 patients who met the inclusion criteria, and 140
patients who consented to participate in the study (Figure 1). Six
patients did not complete baseline assessment. At the 6-month
follow up, 130 patients completed A1C measurements, and 120
patients completed the survey (attrition rate 7% and 14%, respec-
tively). Loss to follow up was not different in the 2 groups.
Participants’ characteristics
Table 1 presents the baseline demographic characteristics of the
study’s population. No significant differences were found in the NCM
and SC groups in terms of gender, ethnicity, martial status, educa-
tion level, employment status or household income (all p values
>0.08). Although various ethnic groups were involved in the study,
about half were Caucasian. The mean age of the participants was
57 years, and the mean number of years of living with diabetes was
11; 54% were married, 58% were male, 31% had high school edu-
cations or less, 54% were employed and 48% reported an annual
income of less than $50 000.
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Primary outcomes
Glycemic control
At baseline, glycemic control was inadequate for both the NCM
and the SC groups (Figure 2, Table 2). At the 6-month follow up,
both groups had achieved significant reductions in mean A1C levels
(from 10.45%±2.13% to 7.72%±1.43; p<0.01, and from 10.52%±2.08 to 8.46%±2.29; p<0.01, respectively). The NCM group experienced significantly larger reductions in A1C levels (−0.73%) (Figure 2, A) compared to the SC group (p=0.027; n=134). Diabetes distress At baseline, both the NCM and the SC groups had diabetes dis- tress in the low to moderate category. At the 6-month follow up, the NCM group had significantly lower mean DDS scores com- pared to those found at the start of the intervention (from 1.90±0.77 to 1.37±0.38; p<0.01). This implies that the DDS score was reduced from near moderate to low. The SC group showed no change in DDS scores (from 1.92±0.84 to 1.78±0.91; p=0.23). Participants in the NCM group showed an additional reduction of −0.40 (26%) in DDS scores (Figure 2B) compared to those in the SC group (p=0.001; n=134), and all had low levels of diabetes distress at the end of the study. Secondary outcomes Clinical outcomes In the NCM group, the average systolic and diastolic BP declined by 8 mm Hg (p=0.02) and 4 mm Hg (p=0.04), respectively, from base- line to 6 months (Table 2). The SC group did not show any improve- ment in BP levels. There was no change in body mass indexes in either group; they were in the obese category at baseline and at the 6-month follow up. Figure 1. Study flowchart. A1C, HbA1c; GP, general practitioner; NCM, nurse case man- agement; SC, standard care. Table 1 Demographic information concerning the modified intent-to-treat population All N=134 SC n=64 NCM n=70 Age Mean (SD) 57.43 (11.01) 58.23 (10.87) 56.69 (11.16) Years with diabetes Mean 10.84 11.84 9.91 (SD) (8.24) (8.10) (8.33) Gender Male 78 (58%) 37 (58%) 41 (59%) Female 56 (42%) 27 (42%) 29 (41%) Ethnicity Arabic 3 (2%) 2 (3%) 1 (1%) Black 4 (3%) 2 (3%) 2 (3%) Chinese 19 (14%) 5 (8%) 14 (20%) First Nations 5 (4%) 4 (6%) 1 (1%) South Asian 15 (11%) 9 (14%) 6 (9%) White 65 (49%) 29 (45%) 36 (51%) Other 23 (17%) 13 (20%) 10 (14%) Marital status Never married 27 (20%) 11 (17%) 16 (23%) Married 72 (54%) 33 (52%) 39 (57%) Living with partner 3 (2%) 3 (5%) 0 (0%) Separated/divorced 20 (15%) 12 (19%) 8 (12%) Widowed 11 (8%) 5 (8%) 6 (9%) n missing 1 (1%) 0 1 (1%) Education Less than high school 12 (9%) 9 (14%) 3 (4%) High school 29 (22%) 11 (17%) 18 (26%) College/technical 32 (24%) 15 (24%) 17 (24%) University 41 (31%) 22 (35%) 19 (27%) Graduate degrees 19 (14%) 6 (10%) 13 (19%) n missing 1 (1%) 1 (1%) 0 Income $20,000 30 (22%) 20 (31%) 10 (14%) $20,000–$29,000 14 (10%) 6 (9%) 8 (11%) $30,000–$39,000 17 (13%) 7 (11%) 10 (14%) $40,000–$49,000 16 (12%) 10 (16%) 6 (9%) $50,000–$59,000 9 (7%) 5 (8%) 4 (6%) $60,000–$69,000 11 (8%) 5 (8%) 6 (9%) $70,000 37 (28%) 11 (17%) 26 (37%) Employment Full time 60 (45%) 26 (41%) 34 (49%) Part time 12 (9%) 6 (9%) 6 (9%) Unemployed 9 (7%) 5 (8%) 4 (6%) Homemaker 4 (3%) 2 (3%) 2 (3%) In school 1 (1%) 0 (0%) 1 (1%) Retired 35 (26%) 17 (27%) 18 (26%) Other 13 (10%) 8 (12%) 5 (7%) NCM, nurse case management; SC, standard care. Note: No significant differences between randomized groups; all p values >0.05.
Figure 2. Changes in A1C levels and DDS scores in 6 months in the NCM and SC groups.
Sample means with 95% CIs for each treatment group at baseline and after 6 months
are shown. A1C, HbA1c; DDS, diabetes distress score; NCM, nurse case manage-
ment; SC, standard care.
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Behavioural outcomes
NCM participants consumed more fruit and vegetables (an
increase of 1 day of eating more than 4 servings of fruit and veg-
etables in a week; p<0.01); exercised more (an increase of 1 day
of more than 30 minutes of exercise in a week; p<0.01) and checked
their feet more often (an additional increase of 1 day per week for
feet checks; p=0.049) compared to the SC group at the 6-month
follow up. Both groups were similar in number of blood sugar checks
in a week (4 to 5 checks per week) and medication compliance (score
of 1 on the 4-item Morisky scale, which indicated good medica-
tion compliance), at the baseline and at the 6-month follow up.
Psychosocial outcomes
At baseline, both groups had mild depression, based on the PHQ-9
scores. At the 6-month follow up, NCM participants had fewer
depressive symptoms (an additional reduction of 3 points; p<0.01),
with average score indicating minimal depression. There was no
change in the SC group. NCM participants also reported a greater
amount of support received and were more motivated. Although
both groups, at baseline, had mean Patient Activation Measure scores
that fell into the stage 3 category (stage 3 indicates taking actions
for diabetes self-care in normal circumstances), NCM participants
were able to move to stage 4 (p<0.01), which indicates ability for
self-care in circumstances of physical illness or mental distress.
Other observations
During the course of the study, 9 patients in the NCM group and
11 patients in SC group were hospitalized. There were no hospi-
talizations for hypoglycemia or acute hyperglycemia in either group.
Table 2
Primary and secondary outcomes: changes from baseline
All
N=134
SC
n=64
NCM
n=70
Difference in changes between
groups, adjusted for baseline
(95% CI)
p value
Primary outcomes
Change in A1C −2.41 −2.06 −2.72 −0.731 0.027
(2.57) (2.58) (2.54) (−1.377, −0.085)
q=4 q=3 q=1
Change in DDS −0.35 −0.15 −0.54 −0.403 0.001
(0.83) (0.92) (0.68) (−0.629, −0.176)
q=14 q=6 q=8
Secondary outcomes
Clinical outcome measures BMI 0.05 −0.20 0.28 0.564 0.190
(2.53) (3.15) (1.78) (−0.283, 1.411)
q=17 q=8 q=9
SBP −3.58 −0.12 −6.71 −8.059 0.021
(21.24) (20.03) (21.96) (−14.861, −1.257)
q=16 q=8 q=8
DBP −3.50 −0.64 −6.08 −4.911 0.014
(13.00) (13.92) (11.62) (−8.803, −1.020)
q=16 q=8 q=8
Behavioural outcome measures Fruit and vegetable intake 0.39 −0.26 1.02 1.112 0.010
(2.95) (2.92) (2.86) (0.274, 1.950)
q=15 q=6 q=9
Fat intake 0.08 0.07 0.08 −0.761 0.056
(2.45) (2.94) (1.9) (−1.541, 0.019)
q=15 q=6 q=9
Physical activity 0.4 −0.17 0.94 1.277 0.007
(3.23) (2.83) (3.5) (0.359, 2.195)
q=14 q=6 q=8
Specific exercise 0.26 −0.29 0.77 1.319 0.005
(3.12) (2.97) (3.19) (0.418, 2.220)
q=14 q=6 q=8
Foot exam 1.34 0.62 2.02 1.006 0.049
(3.56) (3.44) (3.56) (0.004, 2.008)
q=14 q=6 q=8
Blood glucose monitoring 0.88 0.90 0.85 −0.259 0.528
(2.94) (3.12) (2.79) (−1.069, 0.551)
q=14 q=6 q=8
Medication adherence 0.01 0.05 −0.03 −0.130 0.441
(1.17) (1.33) (1.01) (−0.464, 0.203)
q=15 Q=7 Q=8
Psychosocial outcome
measures
Patient activation measure 3.16 1.16 5.03 6.364 <0.001
(10.86) (11.37) (10.09) (3.335, 9.393)
q=14 q=6 q=8
PHQ-9 −0.41 1.09 −1.82 −2.954 <0.001
(4.67) (4.42) (4.48) (−4.381, −1.527)
q=14 q=6 q=8
Amount of support 0.32 −0.05 0.68 0.504 0.004
(1.29) (1.30) (1.18) (0.169, 0.838)
q=14 q=6 q=8
Satisfaction with support 0.21 0.00 0.4 0.297 0.075
(1.18) (1.25) (1.09) (−0.030, 0.625)
q=15 q=7 q=8
A1C, glycated hemoglobin; BMI, body mass index; DBP, diastolic blood pressure; DDS, Diabetes Distress Scale; PHQ-9, 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire; SBP, systolic blood
pressure.
Note: Data are mean (SD); q = number of missing observations. Differences between groups are adjusted for baseline, and the associated p values are calculated using linear
regression.
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Discussion
This is the first RCT of a NCM intervention involving patients with
type 2 diabetes in a Canadian tertiary care setting that demon-
strated that NCM was effective in improving glycemic control and
reducing diabetes distress. Furthermore, this intervention also led
to improvements in other clinical, behavioural and psychosocial
outcomes.
Given that our sample was drawn from a tertiary care setting,
participants were more likely to have poorer glycemic control and
were at higher risk than the general population of persons with
type 2 diabetes. Therefore, it is not surprising this group would be
more receptive and amenable to an NCM intervention (12,24).
This was a behavioural-intervention study, so it is difficult to
delineate which component of the intervention worked best. It is
interesting that medication compliance and glucose testing did not
change over the course of the study for either the intervention or
the control group. These findings suggest that improvements in life-
style behaviours, such as dietary patterns and physical activity, may
have been the mechanism of change. Alternatively, frequent medi-
cation adjustment may also account for A1C level and blood pres-
sure reductions in the intervention group; however, that variable
was not measured in this study.
The rate of diabetes distress is high in patients with type 2 dia-
betes. Previous research has found NCM interventions to improve
psychosocial outcomes, such as depression (25), but only 1 has
reported a reduction in diabetes distress (26). This the first study
of NCM presence conducted in a Canada-based specialty care setting
to demonstrate reduction in diabetes distress and also improve-
ments in depressive symptoms, patient motivation and perceived
social support.
Diabetes distress is associated with worse glycemic control (27).
In fact, Pandit et al (28) found that, compared to minimally dis-
tressed patients, highly distressed patients had higher levels of A1C,
diastolic BP and LDL cholesterol. Diabetes self-management edu-
cation has been shown to decrease diabetes distress, such that a
reduction of 10 points on the Problem Areas in Diabetes (PAID) scale
was associated with a clinically significant reduction in A1C levels
of 0.55% (29). It is possible that improvements in distress and depres-
sion also contributed to A1C-level reductions. Future studies using
structural equation modelling should be conducted to examine this
question.
Limitations to this study need to be acknowledged. The study
budget relied upon blood laboratory analysis being reimbursed by
the BC Ministry of Health; all blood draws were subject to province-
specific guidelines. These guidelines support 3 monthly A1C tests,
but a lipid panel is recommended only annually. Consequently, not
all physicians ordered lipid panels at both baseline and 6 months
and, indeed, some were resistant to this level of testing. Given this
inconsistency, we could not include lipid profiles or any other clini-
cal outcomes that are measured only annually. Finally, we did not
build a formal cost analysis into the study; therefore, we are not
able to provide any cost-effectiveness data. However, such an NCM
model has already been adopted nationwide in a primary care setting
in Germany and has proven to improve survival time, lower mean
daily hospital and mean daily drug costs (30).
Conclusions
Nurse case management was an effective model for improving
A1C levels and reducing diabetes distress in a tertiary care setting.
Therefore, it is a viable adjunct to standard care, particularly for the
inadequately controlled patients with type 2 diabetes who are
referred for specialist care.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the contributions made by the patients,
the physicians, the nurse case manager and the office staff, in addi-
tion to the staff at the collaborating hospitals, who have made this
work possible and specially acknowledge Harlan Campbell and Darby
Thompson for their help with statistical analysis.
Author Disclosures
This study was supported by the British Columbia Endocrine
Research Foundation (itself supported by a grant from Sanofi-
Aventis Canada). Clinical trial registry #NCT01659294,
clinicaltrials.gov. Dr. Tom Elliott has received funding for giving lec-
tures and symposia and attending advisory boards for the follow-
ing companies: Sanofi, NovoNordisk, Boehringer-Ingelheim and
Astra-Zeneca. Dr. Ehud Ur has received funding for giving lectures
and symposia and attending advisory boards for the following com-
panies: Sanofi, NovoNordisk, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Merck and
Astra-Zeneca.
Author Contributions
TT, TE and EU were the principal investigators; DL, TT TE and
EU contributed to study’s conception and design, data analysis and
interpretation; GK was the study coordinator and collected data for
analysis; DL and TE prepared the manuscript for submission, and
TT, GK and EU reviewed and edited the manuscript prior to its
submission.
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Diabetes Nurse Case Management in a Canadian Tertiary Care Setting: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial
Introduction
Methods
Study design, setting and population
Inclusion/exclusion criteria
Recruitment
Randomization process
Nurse case manager intervention
Diabetes education
Monitoring and algorithm-driven treatment adjustment
Linkage to allied healthcare services
Standard care
Participation and assessment
Outcomes and measurements
Demographic characteristics
Sample size and power
Statistical analysis
Results
Study sample
Participants' characteristics
Primary outcomes
Glycemic control
Diabetes distress
Secondary outcomes
Clinical outcomes
Behavioural outcomes
Psychosocial outcomes
Other observations
Discussion
Conclusions
Acknowledgements
Author Disclosures
Author Contributions
References