The effect of problem-based learning in patient education after an event of CORONARY heart disease - a randomised study in PRIMARY health care : design and methodology of the COR-PRIM study

• BackgroundEven though there is convincing evidence that self-care, such as regular exercise         and/or stopping smoking, alters the outcomes after an event of coronary heart disease         (CHD), risk factors remain. Outcomes can improve if core components of secondary prevention         programmes are structurally and pedagogically applied using adult learning principles         e.g. problem-based learning (PBL). Until now, most education programs for patients         with CHD have not been based on such principles. The basic aim is to discover whether         PBL provided in primary health care (PHC) has long-term effects on empowerment and         self-care after an event of CHD.     Methods/DesignA randomised controlled study is planned for patients with CHD. The primary outcome         is empowerment to reach self-care goals. Data collection will be performed at baseline         at hospital and after one, three and five years in PHC using quantitative and qualitative         methodologies involving questionnaires, medical assessments, interviews, diaries and         observations. Randomisation of 165 patients will take place when they are stable in         their cardiac condition and have optimised cardiac medication that has not substantially         changed during the last month. All patients will receive conventional care from their         general practitioner and other care providers. The intervention consists of a patient         education program in PHC by trained district nurses (tutors) who will apply PBL to         groups of 6–9 patients meeting on 13 occasions for two hours over one year. Patients         in the control group will not attend a PBL group but will receive home-sent patient         information on 11 occasions during the year.     DiscussionWe expect that the 1-year PBL-patient education will improve patients’ beliefs, self-efficacy         and empowerment to achieve self-care goals significantly more than one year of standardised         home-sent patient information. The assumption is that PBL will reduce cardiovascular         events in the long-term and will also be cost-effective compared to controls. Further,         the knowledge obtained from this study may contribute to improving patients’ ability         to handle self-care, and furthermore, may reduce the number of patients having subsequent         CHD events in Sweden.

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