International Journal of Nursing Education

Osteoarthritis is the most common joint problem among geriatrics which causes severe pain and loss of physical function. Early diagnosis and proper management are important strategies in delaying disease exacerbation and maintaining physical mobility. Studies revealed that geriatric's knowledge regarding self care management of osteoarthritis is low. Therefore a quasi-experimental study to assess the effect of structured teaching programme on knowledge regarding self care management of osteoarthritis among geriatric population in selected urban community, Ludhiana, Punjab was undertaken with the objectives: to assess the pre test and post test knowledge regarding self care management of osteoarthritis among geriatric population in control and experimental group, to compare pre test and post test knowledge and to determine relationship of pre test and post test knowledge regarding self care management of osteoarthritis among geriatric population in control and experimental group with selected demographic variables. A Quasi-experimental, non equivalent control group design was used. The target population was geriatrics of selected urban community. 60 geriatrics were selected by convenient sampling technique for control and experimental group. Data was collected by self structured questionnaire. Data was analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics and presented through tables and figures. Findings revealed that in control and experimental group knowledge of geriatric population regarding self care management of osteoarthritis was below average before imparting the structured teaching but after imparting STP to geriatrics in experimental group their knowledge was good. The post test mean knowledge score of geriatrics of experimental group was significantly higher than that of control group at p<0.01 level, which indicates that structured teaching programme was effective. For control group (pre and post test) family income and for pretest of experimental group age, monthly income and dietary pattern were found to be related with knowledge of geriatric population. For control and experimental group none of other variables were found significantly related with the knowledge of geriatric population.