Cochrane reviews of educational and self-management interventions to guide nursing practice: a review

The burden of chronic disease on healthcare services worldwide is growing and the increased development of educational interventions which help patients to better manage their own conditions is evident internationally.

This paper reports on findings of a review of Cochrane systematic reviews of interventions designed to improve patients' knowledge and skills to manage chronic disease, with particular reference to nursing contribution and practice.

Thirty Cochrane systematic reviews were identified as meeting the inclusion criteria. Data were extracted and summarised.

The majority of reviews included in this paper were judged by Cochrane reviewers to provide inadequate evidence (n=18, 60%) of the effectiveness of the interventions reviewed. Information on the professional delivering the interventions was often not available, although 77% (23) of reviews mentioned that nurses were involved in a proportion of studies.

Educational programmes have definite benefits for patients suffering from asthma and are promising for interventions in areas such as diabetes mellitus, epilepsy and mental health. However, it still is not clear what the active ingredients of many successful interventions are.