Purpose: The objective of this systematic review was to determine the characteristics of the interventions conducted by nurses that attempt to improve the health related quality of life (HRQoL) of people over 18 years of age with chronic diseases.
Methods: This systematic review with meta-analysis summarizes 24 studies, conducted in 10 countries, that evaluated HRQoL through the Short-Form Health Survey (SF). Five databases were accessed to find the available studies from December 31st, 2000 to May 22sd, 2017. Selected studies were coded according to the characteristics of the sample and the intervention. A model of random effects was adopted for the overall estimation and to explain the heterogeneity.
Results: Twenty-four studies were included in the systematic review and meta-analysis providing a sample of 4324 chronic patients aged 63.4 years. Among the 8 subscales and two summary measures that comprise the SF-36, only an overall significant effect size (ES) index was found in the Mental Health Component summary score (ES = 0.14; 95% CI:0.03 - 0.26; I2 = 44.6, p = 0.042) and the Mental Health subscale. This improvement on HRQoL was associated to interventions on "Case Management" and "Treatments and Procedures", which were based on a theory, were of shorter duration, and had a follow-up period.
Conclusions: Interventions targeting people with chronic diseases resulted in a slight increase in the HRQoL that was not always significant, which suggests that there is a need for their continuous improvement.