Objective
The purpose of this study was to examine how rehabilitation and patient education for knee osteoarthritis improves health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and to identify factors influencing HRQOL.
Methods
Between May 2020 and March 2022, 30 patients with osteoarthritis of the knee were treated conservatively and rehabilitated with a patient education program. The patient education program was based on the health belief model by Sedlak et al., and patient education using pamphlets was provided during the rehabilitation intervention. The survey items were patient basic information, instrumental activities of daily living (ADL) (FAI), fear of falling (FES), degree of depression (GDS), HRQOL (SF-8), knee function assessment (JOA score), and X-ray classification (K-L classification), and the survey method was a self-administered questionnaire at the start of rehabilitation, 1 month after the intervention, and at the end of the rehabilitation intervention. We examined factors affecting the physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS) of HRQOL scores.
Results
JOA score, FES, FAI, GDS, and SF-8 improved significantly (p<0.01). MCS was also negatively correlated with FES and age (r=-0.486, -0.368). Sex was extracted as a factor for PCS as a factor affecting HRQOL (p<0.01). MCS was extracted with FES as a factor (p=0.046).
Conclusion
A rehabilitation intervention incorporating patient education in osteoarthritis of the knee showed improvement in HRQOL and may be useful for improving depression, fear of falling, and instrumental ADL.

Citations

• Effectiveness of 6 weeks individual rehabilitation on the functionality and quality of life in patients with bilateral gonarthrosis
  Amanda Maria Kostro, Anna Kuryliszyn-Moskal, Anna Hryniewicz, Artur Augustynik, Janusz Dzięcioł, Zofia Dzięcioł-Anikiej
  Acta Balneologica.2025; 67(1): 15.     CrossRef

Objective
To estimate the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in patients who were referred for a disability assessment and identify the factors affecting their HRQOL. Method: The referral group was consisted of 117 patients who visited the rehabilitation outpatient clinic for an assessment of the disability. The non-referral group was consisted of 468 patients who visited for being treated for an illness. The control group was consisted of 410 healthy adults who had no illness. Subjects were interviewed using the questionnaire including age, sex, educational level, marital status, employment status and monthly income. The HRQOL of all subjects was measured by the Korean version of the medical outcome study 36-item short-form health survey (KSF-36). The correlation between KSF-36 score and all variables was analyzed and KSF-36 score of each group was compared with those of others. In the referral group, KSF-36 score was analyzed by all variables. Results: The physical and mental component summary in the referral group were significantly lower than other groups. In the referral group, there were moderate positive correlations between monthly income and all KSF-36 scores, between employment status and physical component scores. And also there was a significant difference of almost all of component scores according to employment status and monthly income. Conclusion: The HRQOL of the referral group was significantly lower than those of non-referral and normal control groups. The social factors like employment status and monthly income would be affecting factors on HRQOL of the referral group. (J Korean Acad Rehab Med 2009; 33: 327-332)