Effectiveness of nurse-delivered patient education interventions on quality of life in elders in the hospital: A systematic review

BackgroundNurse-delivered education is a crucial part of nursing practice; however, evidence regarding its impact on quality of life is lacking. To our knowledge, no systematic review has addressed the effects of nurse-delivered education interventions on the quality of life in a general elderly inpatient population.ObjectivesTo evaluate the effectiveness of nurse-delivered education interventions compared to usual care with regard to the quality of life in elders in the hospital.MethodsA systematic review was performed to identify randomized controlled trials examining the effects of nurse-delivered educational interventions on the quality of life in elders in the hospital. The search was performed in December 2012 in the MEDLINE (via PubMed), EMBASE (via Ovid), and CINAHL (via EBSCO) databases and was limited with regard to publication time and language. The studies were appraised according to methodological quality, and p-values were extracted to determine the effectiveness of the interventions.ResultsFour studies were included in the review. One study testing multicomponent interventions showed positive effects on quality of life. Two studies showed no effect, and one study showed a negative effect of the intervention on quality of life. Methodological appraisal revealed single biases in most of the studies.Conclusions and implications of key findingsBecause of the scarcity of positive findings, methodological issues, and heterogeneity between studies, this review could not provide evidence of the effectiveness of nurse-delivered education interventions in elders in the hospital for improving quality of life. Nurse-delivered education may be more effective as a part of multifactorial interventions. Further studies should examine interventions that focus on quality of life using validated measures.