Developing a home-based pulmonary rehabilitation programme for patients with chronic respiratory diseases in Malaysia: A mixed-method feasibility study

Abstract

Aim
To assess the feasibility of delivering a home-PR programme for patients with CRDs in Malaysia.
Methods
We recruited patients with CRDs from two hospitals in Klang Valley, Malaysia to a Home-PR programme. Following Centre-based assessment, patients performed the exercises at home (five sessions/week for 8 weeks (total 40 sessions)). We monitored the patients via weekly telephone calls and asked about adherence to the programme. We measured functional exercise capacity (6-Minutes walking test (6MWT)) and Health-Related Quality-of-Life (HRQOL: COPD Assessment Test (CAT)) at baseline and post- PR at 9 weeks. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 12 purposively sampled participants to explore views and feedback on the Home-PR programme. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically.
Results
30 patients participated; two withdrew due to hospitalisation. Although 28 (93%) adhered to the full programme, only 11 (37%) attended the post- PR assessment because COVID-19 movement restrictions in Malaysia at that time prevented attendance at the centre. Four themes emerged from the qualitative analysis: (1) involvement of family and caregivers, (2) barriers to Home-PR programme, (3) interactions with peers and healthcare professionals, and (4) programme enhancement.
Conclusion
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Home-PR programme proved feasible to be delivered remotely, although Centre-based post-PR assessments were not possible. Family involvement played an important role in the Home-PR programme. The delivery of this programme can be further improved to maximise the benefit obtained.

Rights

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Identifiers

DOI

https://jogh.org/2023/jogh-13-04099

Repository URI

https://www.research.ed.ac.uk/en/publications/f4cea974-4fca-4611-8154-9eca9818ec38