Comprehensive Effects of Organized Education for Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Background: Despite the increasing prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) worldwide, knowledge and awareness of COPD remain extremely low. This prospective study aimed to demonstrate the effectiveness of organized educational intervention. Patients and methods: The study participants included patients diagnosed with COPD and receiving inhaler treatment. In this prospective study, the patients made three sequential visits to the hospital (baseline, 1 month, 3 months). On their first and second visits, patients received systematic education about COPD. On their first and third visits, each patient was evaluated using a COPD Assessment Test, COPD Knowledge Questionnaire, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Results: Fifty-five participants were enrolled in the study. The mean COPD knowledge score before and after education was 12.51±3.19 and 17.89±1.37, respectively, indicating a significant increase in the score post-education (P<0.001). The measure of patients' inhaler technique also significantly improved after education (5.40±1.50 vs 6.83±0.37 P=0.01). The rate of depression and anxiety after education decreased by 10.9% and 12.7%, respectively (P<0.001). In subgroup analysis, we compared the groups whose knowledge score increased by more than 5 points (Group B) and those whose score did not improve (Group A). In Group B, the mean CAT score significantly improved (2.61±5.88 vs -2.41±7.48, P=0.01), and the duration of their COPD diagnosis before enrollment was significantly shorter (2.72±2.43 vs 5.22±5.11 years, P=0.038) compared to those in Group A. Conclusion: An organized educational program resulted in improved disease-specific knowledge. Disease-specific education is an important part of the treatment of COPD that affects the quality of life and emotional status of patients. Early education after COPD diagnosis can be beneficial.

Development and application of cognitive-pragmatic language ability assessment protocol for traumatic brain injury.

The study aim was to introduce a newly-developed multifaceted cognitive-pragmatic language assessment protocol. This study was also designed to assess the reliability and validity of the assessment protocol in the discrimination between mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and normal control. Individuals in this study were 25 to 64 years old. Ten mTBIs and twenty-two control group were recruited for the preliminary study. Their mean ages were 45.20 and 41.23, respectively. For the main study, we recruited 39 mTBIs and 100 healthy individuals whose mean ages were 44.67 and 40.84, respectively. The newly-developed protocol was completed through a systematic review based on an item analysis. We administered the CAPTBI based on nine domains, 22 subcategories, and 57 items. All nine domains of the CAPTBI were found to be significant variables by which mTBI individuals can be distinguished from normal individuals (p < .001). We also presented the cut-off points by education level to maximize the validity of differentiating the two groups. This study is the first attempt to evaluate mTBI by means of the cognitive-linguistic protocol with multiple domains. The CAPTBI is an appropriate tool for differentiating the cognitive-pragmatic language abilities between mTBI and control group.