Association Between Everyday Technology Use, Activities of Daily Living and Health-Related Quality of Life in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Rina Juel Kaptain; Tina Helle; Ann-Helen Patomella; Ulla Møller Weinreich; Anders Kottorp

doi:10.2147/COPD.S229630

Association Between Everyday Technology Use, Activities of Daily Living and Health-Related Quality of Life in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis. 2020 Jan 9:15:89-98. doi: 10.2147/COPD.S229630. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Rina Juel Kaptain^{1

2}, Tina Helle^{1

2}, Ann-Helen Patomella², Ulla Møller Weinreich^{3

4}, Anders Kottorp^{2

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Occupational Therapy, University College of Northern Denmark, Aalborg, Denmark.
² Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Division of Occupational Therapy, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
³ Department of Respiratory Diseases, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark.
⁴ The Clinical Institute, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark.
⁵ Faculty of Health and Society, Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden.

Abstract

Purpose: A decline in the ability to perform activities of daily living (ADL) and ability to use everyday technology can pose threats to independent living, healthcare management and quality of life (QOL) of patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Evidence of the relationship between these variables remains limited. The dual aim of this study was, first, to investigate if health-related QOL (HRQOL) was associated with quality in ADL performance and everyday technology use; second, to examine whether lung function, years with COPD diagnosis, living status or educational level affected physical and mental domains of HRQOL.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included (N=80) participants aged 46-87 years recruited at healthcare centres in the Northern Region of Denmark using a convenience sampling procedure. Data were gathered through standardized assessments and analysed using multiple regression analysis.

Results: The regression model explained 50.6% (R²=0.506) of the variation in HRQOL-physical. The following four variables were statistically significantly associated with HRQOL - physical: years since COPD diagnosis (p=0.023), ability to use everyday technology (p=0.006), amount of relevant everyday technologies (p=0.015) and ADL motor ability (p<0.01). The regression model explained 22.80% (R²=0.228) of HRQOL - mental. Only the variable ability to use everyday technology was statistically significantly associated with HRQOL - mental (p=0.009).

Conclusion: Quality of ADL performance and everyday technology use seem to be associated with HRQOL in people living with COPD. The only demographic variable associated with HRQOL was years with COPD. This indicates that healthcare professionals should enhance their attention also to ADL-performance and everyday technology use when striving to increase the HRQOL of persons living with COPD.

Keywords: ADL; AMPS; ETUQ; SF36; occupational therapy.

MeSH terms

Activities of Daily Living*
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Attitude to Computers*
Computer Literacy*
Cross-Sectional Studies
Denmark
Female
Health Status Indicators
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / diagnosis*
Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / physiopathology
Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / psychology
Quality of Life*
Surveys and Questionnaires

Grants and funding

This study was supported financially by The Danish Association of Occupational Therapists Association, Technologies Closely Connected to Citizens’ Health and Division of Occupational Therapy, University College of Northern Denmark.