The Journal of

Abstract

Introduction: Knee Osteoarthritis is the most common age-related causes of knee pain which can induce disability, disablement and reduced quality of life. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine attitudes and self-care behaviors of knee osteoarthritis patients referred to three Rheumatology Clinical Centers in Yazd.

Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was carried out on 235 patients referred to Health Care Centers of Yazd who were selected randomly. In order to glean the study data, a researcher-designed questionnaire was utilized probing into demographic variables as well as patients' attitudes and self-care behaviors. The reliability and validity of the questionnaire were approved, as well. The study data were analyzed applying SPSS software (ver. 18) via T-Test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient at 0.05 of the significant level.

Results: The participants' mean age and Mean BMI were reported 54.90±9.15 and 28.8±4.61, respectively. Mean score of patients' attitude toward self-care was 47.4±3.95 out of 55 and the mean score of their self-care behaviors was 43.11±5.75 out of 60, which the both scores were at a moderate level. Furthermore, a positive significant correlation was detected between attitude and self-care behaviors (p=0.01). Within different self-care behaviors, participants' attitude towards the positive effect of using crutches while walking was at the lowest level. Meanwhile, according to the patients' attitude, using crutches was demonstrated to have the least performance within the self-care behaviors.

Conclusion: Based on the findings of the present study, the attitude level can cause an increase in the patients' self-care behaviors. Moreover, since the participants' attitude towards such behaviors as using crutches, using pool and weight loss were at a low level, interventional programs are recommended to emphasize the mentioned issues.

Keywords: Attitude; Knee osteoarthritis; Performance; Self-care behaviors