The development of knee osteoarthritis prevention program in elderly by community participation in Khu Mueang Subdistrict, Warin Chamrap District, Ubon Ratchathani

Abstract

Osteoarthritis in the elderly is still a major health problem. This participatory action research aims to develop a program to prevent osteoarthritis in the elderly by community participation and evaluate the effect of using the osteoarthritis prevention program and evaluate in the elderly. The samples used simple random methods including program development group consisted of 32 people from community leaders, village health volunteers, and personnel from the local government organization, osteoarthritis specialist and community representative. A program participant is 40 elderly in Khu Mueang Subdistrict Warinchamrab District, Ubon Ratchathani Province. The research was conducted from January 2019 to August 2019. Tools used to collect data were divided into 2 parts. One is quantitative data used questionnaires. Two is qualitative data used quality recording form, group conversation, In-depth interviews. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and compared the difference with Paired T-test. Qualitative data were analyzed by content analysis. The results showed that knee osteoarthritis prevention programs in the elderly by community participation was 4 steps. 1) Knowledge creation about osteoarthritis 2) Develop knowledge about osteoarthritis for leaders in the community 3) Increasing search efficiency for new osteoarthritis patients in the elderly by using proactive screening and 4) establish guidelines for tracking patients with osteoarthritis in the area. After using the program, the result showed that 1) The elderly had higher knowledge scores about osteoarthritis after using the program with statistical significance (p-value < 0.05) 2) perception of illness with osteoarthritis in the elderly, perceptions about the causes of osteoarthritis in the elderly and osteoarthritis prevention behavior after the trial program were higher with statistical significant (p-value < 0.05). Therefore, the activities in the prevention of osteoarthritis developed by this study can effectively prevent osteoarthritis of the elderly in the community. The implementation of this prevention program should be considered in accordance with the way of life of the elderly in the community.