How and why patients self ‐treat chronic wounds

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to investigate how people self‐treat chronic wounds, why they self‐treat and the assistance and support that they receive. The increasing emphasis on self‐management of chronic conditions, the potential benefits of self‐treatment to the health care consumer and competing demands on health care funding are good reasons to investigate self‐treatment of chronic wounds as we have little data on this group of individuals. A survey study was conducted in Australia. A non‐random sample of 100 participants was recruited. Participants were aged 18 years or older and currently or previously had a chronic wound that they self‐treated. All participants completed one survey. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics. The sample was, on average, 64·6 years of age; half was female (n = 50, 50%), and the majority had a lower leg wound (n = 80, 80·0%). The sample scored 33·9/40 on the Generalized Self‐efficacy Scale and 68/100 on the Medical Outcomes Social Support Scale. The majority of the 89 participants who used a wound dressing used a product that targeted bacteria (n = 59, 66.3%). The two most commonly selected reasons for self‐treating were ‘to be independent’ (n = 58, 58·0%) and ‘to do the treatment at a time that suited’ (n = 55, 56·0%). Less than one quarter of participants reported being supervised regularly during the wound episode (n = 22, 22%), and few (n = 6, 6·0%) reported havi...
Source: International Wound Journal - Category: Surgery Authors: Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research