Women's Awareness Regarding Systemic Lupus Erythematous: Impact of Self- Management Guidelines

Abstract

Background: Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is a common long-term autoimmune disease calls for self-care strategies tailored to enable women to actively manage their health and presume responsibility for disease control Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the impact of implementing self-management guidelines on the women's awareness regarding SLE. Design: A quasi-experimental designed study. Settings: the participants were recruited from the Rheumatology and antenatal outpatient clinics at Al-Azhar University Hospital in New Damietta. Subjects: A purposive sample was conducted on adult female women (18-45 years old), that suffer from different signs and symptoms of disease . Four tools were employed for gathering of data as follows : Tool I was a structured interview questionnaire divided into 2 parts to assess personal characteristics of the women and their medical and obstetric history. Tool II was women's awareness knowledge about SLE. Tool III was The Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) scale. Tool IV was disability index scale. Results: This study found that 67.7% of women had satisfactory knowledge about SLE disease, 72.3% were able to self-management post guidelines, statistically significant differences in improving knowledge, pain interference, and disability index post application of the self-management guidelines were found. Also, women acquired sufficient knowledge, and an increase in positive daily life practices was observed. Conclusion: The self-management guidelines reinforced the women's knowledge also improved daily life and reflected in decreased pain and increased disability index. Recommendations: Ongoing educational programs for females with SLE in order to enhancing their health status.