Jennings A R
Louis Stokes Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
Educ Health (Abingdon). 2011 Dec;24(3):532. Epub 2011 Dec 4.
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major public health threat throughout the world because of its ability to lead to cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma and need for liver transplant. Findings from studies have illustrated that levels of knowledge and awareness are low among those populations most affected by hepatitis C. The purpose of this descriptive pilot study was to assess the educational needs of potential hepatitis C patients at a Veterans Administration (VA) medical center. Few studies have identified the educational strategies preferred among patients who are diagnosed with hepatitis C.
Potential hepatitis C patients in this study are defined as those individuals who had laboratory tests indicating abnormal liver enzymes and liver function tests. A survey Assessing Educational Needs of Potential Hepatitis C Patients included 13 questions relating to the educational needs of this population.
A total of 152 patients completed the survey over a period of six months. The participants from the study did not agree that there was adequate educational material available to them in the hepatitis C clinic (71%). Out of the several educational delivery methods listed, presentations given by healthcare professionals to a large group of people were most popular at 36.2%. Participants (61%) would be interested in joining a support group and 56% felt comfortable receiving advice from health care professionals via a computer. The topic that participants would most like to learn about was living with hepatitis C.
Assessing educational needs of potential hepatitis C patients provides a starting point in the discussion of how healthcare professionals can best deliver education. It is important to note that hepatitis C patients worldwide have a high degree of heterogeneity based upon their differing comorbid conditions, which would warrant specialized educational programs with the utilization of a variety of educational strategies.
丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）感染因其可导致肝硬化、肝细胞癌以及需要进行肝移植，而成为全球主要的公共卫生威胁。研究结果表明，在受丙型肝炎影响最严重的人群中，相关知识和意识水平较低。这项描述性试点研究的目的是评估一家退伍军人事务部（VA）医疗中心潜在丙型肝炎患者的教育需求。很少有研究确定丙型肝炎确诊患者更喜欢的教育策略。
本研究中的潜在丙型肝炎患者定义为那些实验室检查显示肝酶和肝功能检查异常的个体。一项“评估潜在丙型肝炎患者教育需求”的调查包含13个与该人群教育需求相关的问题。
在六个月的时间里，共有152名患者完成了调查。研究中的参与者并不认为丙型肝炎诊所为他们提供了足够的教育材料（71%）。在列出的几种教育方式中，医护人员向一大群人进行的讲座最受欢迎，占36.2%。参与者（61%）有兴趣加入支持小组，56%的人对通过电脑接受医护人员的建议感到安心。参与者最想了解的主题是丙型肝炎患者的生活。
评估潜在丙型肝炎患者的教育需求为讨论医护人员如何能最好地提供教育提供了一个起点。需要注意的是，全球范围内的丙型肝炎患者因其不同的合并症情况而具有高度异质性，这需要利用多种教育策略开展专门的教育项目。
