Patient understanding of liver cirrhosis and improvement using multimedia education

Goldsworthy, Matthew A.; Fateen, Waleed; Thygesen, Helene; Aldersley, Mark A.; Rowe, Ian A.; Jones, Rebecca L.

Abstract

Objective: For patients to engage with the long-term management of liver cirrhosis, sufficient understanding of their condition is essential. The aim of this study was to assess baseline patient knowledge and to test whether a condition-specific multimedia screencast could improve this.
Design: Service quality improvement study.
Setting: A UK tertiary liver centre. Patients were recruited during 12 general hepatology outpatient clinics.
Patients: Fifty-two patients with liver cirrhosis were included. Sixty-two per cent were male; their median age was 56 years and their median clinic attendance period was 3 years.
Interventions: Participants completed a baseline questionnaire assessing their knowledge of the management and complications of cirrhosis. They then watched a tailored screencast discussing this condition, which had been developed by expert hepatologists in collaboration with patient representatives. Knowledge was reassessed using a new copy of the original questionnaire after an interval of at least one month.
Main outcome measures: Patient scores on knowledge questionnaires at baseline and follow-up.
Results: Fifty-two patients achieved a median score of 25.0% before viewing the screencast. Thirty-five patients then completed a follow-up questionnaire after an interval period. The median questionnaire score in this group improved from 25.0% to 66.7%; an increase of 41.7% compared with baseline (p<0.001).
Conclusions: Despite regular review at a specialist clinic, participants had poor baseline knowledge of liver cirrhosis. Delivering information by screencast led to a significant improvement. We therefore present an effective way to empower patients with accurate, up-to-date and retainable information that can easily be translated to many other conditions.

Citation

Goldsworthy, M. A., Fateen, W., Thygesen, H., Aldersley, M. A., Rowe, I. A., & Jones, R. L. (2017). Patient understanding of liver cirrhosis and improvement using multimedia education. Frontline Gastroenterology, 8(3), https://doi.org/10.1136/flgastro-2016-100761

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 1, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Jan 19, 2017
• Publication Date: Mar 30, 2017
• Deposit Date: Feb 19, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 19, 2018
• Journal: Frontline Gastroenterology
• Print ISSN: 2041-4137
• Electronic ISSN: 2041-4145
• Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 8
• Issue: 3
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/flgastro-2016-100761
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/853317
• Publisher URL: http://fg.bmj.com/content/8/3/214
• Contract Date: Feb 19, 2018