The relationship between knowledge and self-care behaviors of the elderly after cataract surgery

Abstract

A cataract is a disease that affects the elder which mostly causes by deterioration. If the treatment was delayed or received incorrect treatment Including a false knowledge of how to perform after cataract surgery, the result might be a blindness in elder people. Survey research aims to study the elder’s knowledge and self-care behavior after cataract surgery, and study the relationship between knowledge and self-care behaviors of the elderly after cataract surgery who was admitted to the Chao Phraya Yomarat Hospital Suphan Buri Province. The participants consist of 111 elderly people who were scheduled for cataract surgery examination at the ophthalmic outpatient department Chao Phraya Yomarat Hospital. The tools used in this research were personal information record form examine the patient knowledge about cataracts after cataract surgery and a questionnaire on self-care behavior of the elderly after cataract surgery. Which was modified from the questionnaire of Surapi Masomboon (2010) was verified the accuracy by used the knowledge test after cataract surgery and a questionnaire on self-care behaviors of the elderly after cataract surgery received  a content validity index (CVI) of 0.7 and 0.84, respectively. The confidence examination of the after cataract knowledge test was 0.64 and the questionnaire on self-care behavior of the elderly after cataract surgery was 0.91, respectively. By using descriptive statistics and analyze the relationship between knowledge and self-care behaviors of the elderly after cataract surgery by using Person's product-moment correlation coefficient. The results of the research showed that the elderly had a moderate level of knowledge after cataract surgery which is 54.1%. The elder who has accuracy knowledge after cataract surgery was 62.61% from the total.. Additionally, the elderly after cataract surgery who had good self-care behavior was 88.30% which is considered as high tier. The results of the relationship analysis showed that knowledge about cataract after cataract surgery correlated with the self-care behavior of the elderly after cataract surgery with statistical significance (p <.01, r = .273). This study shows that the elderly after cataract surgery have a moderate level of knowledge and knowledge correlated with self-care behavior after cataract surgery. Therefore, the elder should be educated with the emphasis of appropriate exercise, which foods should be eaten and avoided after cataract surgery. Including symptoms or behaviors that require using force which is one of the reasons that causes pressure in the eyes after cataract surgery to promote the elderly people to have correct knowledge and understanding until they become more confident and act efficiently in self-care after cataract surgery.