Effects of self-management education on physical activity level in patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis

Objective To explore the effects of self-management education on physical activity level in the patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis.Methods Totally 80 maintenance hemodialysis patients were recruited in the study with convenience sampling method.The patients were randomly divided into a control group and an intervention group(40 patients in each group).The patients in the control group received only usual care and those in the intervention group received a 6 months self-management education intervention.The Human Activity Profile(HAP) and walking speed were used to measure physical activity level of the patients before and after the treatments.Results After the intervention,the patients' HAP scores of the intervention group were significantly better than that of the control group except for the domains of entertainment and social intercourse(P<0.05).The normal walking speed and maximum walking speed were also improved(P<0.05).Conclusion Self-management education can effectively improve physical activity level for the patients with maintenance hemodialysis.