Page 133 - Hospital Authority Convention 2017

Service Enhancement Presentations

F3.1 Clinical Safety and Quality Service I 14:30 Room 421

A Pilot Study to Investigate the Effect of Group-based Activity Programme on Health Related Quality of Life for
Patients with Musculoskeletal Injuries in Our Work Rehabilitation Programme
Chan SMV, Leung MYV, Au LYF HOSPITAL AUTHORITY CONVENTION 2017
Occupational Therapy Department, Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong

Introduction
Musculoskeletal disorders were one of the biggest work related problems (Antonio, 2013). Patients displayed significant
pain and functional limits mentally and physically after musculoskeletal injuries especially in lower back and lower limbs.
Therefore, activity programme was frequently advocated for the management of musculoskeletal disorders. It was because
the health status had recently become a major concern in outcome measures for people with musculoskeletal disorders.

Objectives
To investigate the effect of group-based activity programme on health related quality of life (HR-QOL) for patients with
musculoskeletal injuries in our work rehabilitation programme.

Methodology
This randomised controlled trial study recruited patients referred to work rehabilitation programme from January 2015 to
August 2015 in the Occupational Therapy Department. They were suffering from either low back pain (LBP) or lower limbs
injury (LL). A group-based activity programme of six sessions in total, combining stretching exercises, progressive muscle
relaxation and Ba Duan Jin practice was administered to the intervention group. They completed a self-reported survey using
Chinese version of SF-36 (eight domains of health) at baseline (week one) and post intervention (week six) as the primary
outcome measure of health status. Wilcoxon Sign Rank test was used to compare the pre-test and post-test scores of the
eight domains in SF-36 of control and intervention group, and gender and injury group. Mann-Whitney U test was used to Tuesday, 16 May
compare the pre-test and post-test scores of the eight domains in SF-36 between the control and intervention group, and
gender and injury group.

Results
There were a total of 22 subjects including 16 subjects (73%) with LBP and six subjects (27%) with LL for data analysis.
There were 11 subjects in each group. After six-week group-based activity programme, the intervention group had significant
improvement in two areas of improvement including role physical health (p=0.041) and bodily pain (p=0.012) than control
group. The LL group showed four areas of improvement including role physical health (p=0.039), vitality (p=0.003), bodily
pain (p=0.023), general health (0.014) than LBP group. However, there was no statistical difference between male and
female group. Finally, the subjects had positive feedback and good satisfaction with the objectives and information of this
programme. So, this pilot study suggested that a group-based activity programme had a significant and positive effect on
the improvement of overall HR-QOL for patients suffering from LBP and LL in work rehabilitation programme. However, in
view of the small sample size, short duration of intervention, subjective and single outcome measurement, further studies are
recommended using objective measurements for assessing dysfunction in individuals with LBP and LL.

131