Table 1.
Characteristics of patients and recruitment for the studies of partnership-based self-management for patients with COPD in its initial versus advanced stages and their families.
| Beginning COPD (N = 100a) | Advanced COPD (N = 50) | |
|---|---|---|
| % (n) | % (n) | |
| Description of research | ||
| Design | Randomized controlled trial | Retrospective and prospective |
| Qualitative | Qualitative | |
| Study period | 12 months | 18 months |
| Invitation | Posted letters from patients’ physician and a phone call from the research nurse | Face-to-face by a clinical nurse specialist |
| Context | University research institute | Outpatient hospital clinic and patients’ homes |
| Structure | 3–4 family conversations and one group meeting over 6 months |
First weekly appointments, then indefinitely upon need |
| Data collection | Patients and family members | Patients |
| Patients | ||
| Stage of COPD | ||
| GOLD I and II | 69 (69) | 28 (14) |
| GOLD III and IV | 31 (31) | 72 (36) |
| Age (mean) | 59 years | 68 years |
| Gender | ||
| Women | 54 (54) | 78 (39) |
| Men | 46 (46) | 22 (11) |
| Current smokers | 60 (60) | 28 (14) |
| Knowing existence of disease | 24 (24) | 100 (50) |
| Rejecting invitation | 25 (72/291) | 4 (2/52) |
| Exclusion | 34 (100/291) | 0 (0/52) |
| Retention | 84 (100/119) | 84 (42/50) |
| 1 quit | 0 quit | |
| 3 died | 3 died | |
| 1 too sick | 5 too sick | |
| 14 lost to follow up | ||
| Family members | ||
| Retention | 60 (18/30) | Not documented |
| 12 lost to follow up | ||
COPD: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; GOLD: Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease.
aIn this study, 119 patients started participation. Characteristics of patients are presented for those 100 who finished the study. An exception is the calculation of retention, where the number of those who started the participation was used (119 patients and 30 family members).