COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF PATIENT EDUCATION THOROUGH GROUP DISCUSSION VERSUS BOOKLET ON KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE OF PATIENTS WITH HYPERLIPIDEMIA

Background: Hyperlipidemia is a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs.). 166 people die per day due to cardiovascular diseases in Iran which sums up to 12500 annual deaths. Several studies revealed that lifestyle changes are a key to prevention of CVDs. Thus continuous and comprehensive Educational programs are needed which should be designed and performed by medical staff specially educating nurses. In this study the effect of patient education thorough group discussion or an educational booklet is compared on knowledge and practice of patients with hyerlipidemia. Methods: This research is an interventional study. Participants were randomly allocated into discussion group or booklet group.  Knowledge and practice of participant in both groups were assessed before and after intervention using a standardize questioner. A total number of 304 patients with hyperlipidemia were studied which were equally divided into" booklet or Interactive discussion groups". Results: Interactive group discussion caused %27 increase in knowledge and practice of participants the booklet group had a %26 increase and the difference was not significant. Conclusion: Regarding the results of this study and other studies carried out in different countries, we concluded that the efficacy of each Interventional session is equal to educational booklets. In order to achieve better results we propose that these session be hold on regular Intervals.