A Study on the Relationship between Drug Related Knowledge, Sick Role Behavior and Quality of Life of Patients Taking Warfarin

와파린 복용 환자의 약물지식, 환자역할행위와 삶의 질과의 관계

Purpose: This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between drug-related knowledge, sick role behavior and quality of life of patients on wafarin therapy in an outpatient unit. Methods: The participants were 122 patients. Data were collected using a questionnaire and analyzed using t-test, ANOVA and Pearson correlation. Results: The Duration of wafarin averaged $28.80{\pm}32.99$ months, and 78.7% of participants remembered their blood coagulation value. The mean score for drug-related knowledge was 11.32 points out of a possible 13 points. Sick role behavior of the patients showed a moderate value with a mean of 49.83 points out of 68 points. The mean score for quality of life was rather low at 104.43 out of 175. Drug-related knowledge was significantly correlated to sick role behavior (r=0.39, p<.001), but the relationship between sick role behavior and quality of life was not significant. Also drug-related knowledge was not significantly correlated with quality of life. Conclusion: The resultsindicate that there is a need to enhance the level of drug-related knowledge in order to increase positive behavior as part of the sick role of these patients and thus improve quality of life.