Measuring self-care behaviours of a portuguese population with COPD: descriptive study

<bold>Introduction:</bold> Experiencing a chronic disease negatively influences people's quality of life requiring the adoption of self-care behaviours aimed at the maintenance, monitoring and management of the symptoms and progression of the disease. Therefore, it is essential to efficiently evaluate self-care behaviours with the goal of creating patient-tailored interventions. <bold>Aims and objectives:</bold> To characterise COPD patients regarding self-care behaviours. <bold>Methods:</bold> Descriptive, cross-sectional. A non-probabilistic convenience sampling process was adopted. Self-care was measured by using the portuguese version of the Self-Care in COPD Inventory (likert-type scale). <bold>Results:</bold> A sample of 196 patients with COPD was recruited. The majority were male (n=136; 69,4%) and married or with a partner (n=133; 67,9%). 80,2% of the patients (n=157) had less than higher school education. Only 12,2% (n=24) were active and 81,1% (n=159) were retired. Regarding clinical profile, 72,9% patients (n=143) had an intermediate level of obstruction (GOLD 2 and 3) and 16,8% (n=33) were classified E as per GOLD groups. 70,4% of patients (n=138) had a mMRC of 1 or 2. Only 34,2% (n=67) had a CAT ≤10. Self-care maintenance behaviours had a mean of 3.57 (SD ± 0.59). Self-care monitoring behaviours were less adopted (M = 2.70; SD ± 2.27) than those of management (M = 3.12; SD ± 1.03). Self-care self-efficacy perception had a mean of 3.57 (SD± 0.87). <bold>Conclusion:</bold> Self-care behaviours measured on this specific population were adequate, especially those concerning health maintenance behaviours and their perception of confidence dealing with COPD. <bold>References:</bold> Matarese, M. et al. Evaluation & the Health Professions 2020; 43 (1): 50-62