COPD and Lungs

Self-Management and Prevention of COPD

Self- Management interventions help patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) acquire and practise the skills they need to carry out disease-specific medical regimens, guide changes in health behaviour and provide emotional support to enable patients to control their disease. These programmes are based on the presumption that effective modification of behaviour can be attained only if patients’ self-efficacy has been improved. Patients who have enough confidence in their ability to successfully respond to certain events, such as at the time of an exacerbation, can more easily modify and maintain the desired behaviour. The behavioural modification should ultimately result in improved clinical outcomes. COPD self-management programmes have shown positive effects on patients’ quality of life and healthcare use in secondary care settings, but the benefits in general practice are still inconclusive. There are also  breathing techniques that can help you get the air you need without working so hard to breathe, Our primary objective was to assess the long term effects of two different modes of COPD disease management—comprehensive self-management and routine monitoring—on quality of life in COPD patients in general practice. As secondary objectives, we assessed the effects on frequency and patients’ management of exacerbations and on self-efficacy.