Awareness, Attitude and Self care Activities Related to Management of Ascites

Ascites is the most common complication of cirrhosis that leads to hospital admissions. An effective education of patients on importance of fluid restriction, talking the prescribed salt, protein rich diet, regular drug therapy, maintaining skin integrity equips them to manage their symptoms and live a quality life. There are limited studies regarding ascites self management among liver cirrhosis patients. Therefore, a descriptive study was undertaken to assess the awareness, attitude and self care activities related to management of ascites and to find their relationship with selected socio demographic and clinical variables. The study was conducted in Hepatology Out Patient Department (OPD) of a tertiary care hospital with a sample size of 65. Convenience sampling technique was used. A self administered tool developed by the investigator was used in the study. It consisted of socio demographic and clinical details, awareness questionnaire and, attitude and self care activities scales. The study findings revealed that 60% of subjects had adequate awareness, 23.1% had favourable attitude and 61.5% had adequate self care activities. Results also showed that there was a statistically significant relationship between awareness, attitude and self care activities related to management of ascites with selected socio demographic and clinical variables. The findings of this study helped to develop an educational module which can be used to promote awareness and self care management of ascites among patients