A randomized controlled study was conducted on the cardiology outpatients. The patients were recruited through purposive sampling. The participants had been diagnosed with AFib and were receiving OACs. The participants were divided according to the blocks of clinic hours and assigned randomly to the experimental group or control group. The control variables involved demographic characteristics and medical history. The dependent variables and corresponding research instruments were medication knowledge and health beliefs, medication satisfaction and quality of life (QoL). Other than the medication knowledge questionnaire, which was assessed monthly, all the measurement instruments were applied twice: first in a pretest, and again in a posttest administered at the third month. The interventions administered to the experimental group were one-on-one instruction and HBM-driven strategies, health information technology system, monthly telephone follow-ups, and providing medication cards. The participants in the control group only received brochure and medication cards.
This study examined patients on taking oral anticoagulants (OACs) are often prescribed for Atrial fibrillation (AFib) to determine the effectiveness of a multiple interactive health education program, which was developed based on the health belief model (HBM) and incorporated information technologies.