A Study to assess the effectiveness of Video Teaching Programme (VTP) on Non Drug Pain Relief Measures of Osteoarthritis among Elderly in Selected Old Age Homes, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu

Introduction: Old age cannot be healed or prevented. However much can be done by health workers in helping the elderly to lead a normal life, which is necessary for them to perform their activities of daily living (ADL) smoothly. The commonest obstacle for elderly to carry out ADL is the problem of joint-pain and decreased mobility.

Objective: A study to assess the effectiveness of Video Teaching Programme on Non drug pain relief measures of Osteoarthritis (heat and cold therapy and proper body mechanisms) among elderly for improving their knowledge and practice towards non drug pain relief measures.

Design: Quasi Experimental Design- One group Pre test and Post test design

Setting: The study was conducted at Old Age Home in Coimbatore.

Participants: 27 Elderly clients with Osteoarthritis.

Measurements and tools: A assessment tool to identify the clients with Osteoarthritis and WOMAC (Western Ontario and Mc Master Universities) tool for identifying the severity of Osteoarthritis. Structured Interview Schedule and Observation Checklist to assess the knowledge and practice of Non drug pain management of clients with Osteoarthritis. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data.

Findings: The findings of the study revealed that among 27 clients, the highest percentage (45%) of patients were in the age group of 60-65 years. 59% of clients are male. Most of the clients (33%) were educated up to primary education and had a history of previous occupation like semi manual work respectively. Highest percentage of clients (70%) were non vegetarians. 89% of clients were obese. 15% of clients have medical illness of CAD and 33% of clients not having any health problems. 74% of clients have joint pain more than 5 years. 89% of clients not using any assistive devices for mobilization. In pre test knowledge mean score was 2.778±1.706, the mean percentage is 34.73, whereas in post test it was 7.519±0.625, the mean percentage is 94, it shows that after implementation of VTP the clients gained excellent knowledge on non drug pain relief measures. Whereas in pre test practice mean score was 5.44±1.387 and mean % was 30.22 where as in post test it was 14.33±4.094 and mean % was 79.61, it shows that clients had fully adoptive practice after the video teaching programme. There was highly significant difference was found between pre test and post test knowledge and practice. Whereas there is a significant association between knowledge score and osteoarthritis clients education, previous occupation, type of diet and usage of any assistive devices for ambulation. There is significant association between the practice score with the demographic variables of age and duration of joint pain. There was highly significant difference between severity of osteoarthritis pre and post test practice scores. Positive correlation was found between pre and post test knowledge and practice scores.

Conclusion: It concluded that the education on Non drug pain relief measures through demonstration will improve the elderly client's knowledge and practice of self care.