Effective components of self-management programs for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients: scoping review

To date, little guidance is available to support the development of effective programs for improving self-management in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. Yet, given the global burden of this disease, it seems important to identify the components of a self-management program that are effective in terms of health outcomes for COPD patients.

This review aims to identify effective elements of a self-management program for COPD patients, the ones that may impact quality of life, emergency visits, and rehospitalization rates.

A systematic literature search of three databases (Medline, Cochrane, and CINHAL) was conducted to identify studies on self-management of COPD, with three limiting parameters: published in twelve years prior to November 2019, in English or French, and including patients over 40 years old. Prisma was used to guide the work process.

The search yielded 361 studies from the three electronic databases by applying limiting criteria, and after removing duplicates. Sixty-five articles were identified as relevant based on their titles and abstracts. However, 16 documents were retained after full reading. The analysis of the included articles identified 4 components in self-management programs for COPD patients: initiation stage of the intervention, educational sessions, support and monitoring methods.

Although the combination of self-management program initiation, educational sessions, support and monitoring methods were effective, further research is needed to identify the components that have better impact on COPD patients' skills and quality of life.