Self-management education programmes led by lay leaders (rather than health professionals such as doctors or nurses) are becoming common as a way of trying to promote self care for people with chronic conditions. We assessed systematically the effects of these programmes. We included results from seventeen studies which involved a total of 7442 people with chronic conditions including arthritis, diabetes, hypertension and chronic pain. While many of the programmes were similar, they differed in which condition they were for, which measurements researchers reported, and how effective the programmes were.
We found that these programmes may lead to modest, short-term improvements in patients' confidence to manage their condition and perceptions of their own health. They also increased how often people took aerobic exercise. Whilst there were small improvements in pain, disability, fatigue and depression, the improvements were not clinically important. The programmes did not improve quality of life, alter the number of times patients visited their doctor or reduce the amount of time spent in hospital. No adverse events were reported in any of the studies.
Self-management education programmes led by lay leaders for people with chronic health conditions
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Published Online:
January 21, 2009
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