L'éducation thérapeutique des patients apnéiques : résultats d'une enquête de besoins

As it is the case with many chronic diseases, sleep apneic patients need to self-administer their treatment, and this process requires a level of competence which requires a therapeutic patient education. Patient education has to be built on estabtished educational needs. The literature suggests that differences exist between the patients' perceived needs and those perceived by their Health Care Providers (HCP). We carried out a needs survey with 52 sleep apneic patients and 15 of their spouses, and with 29 of their HCPs. The most noticeable results were: the difficulty of some patients to comprehend the reality of the disease, the heaviness of the treatment which forces patients build their motivation for the treatment, and the very close link between the treatment accommodation and the spouse involvement. We present a set of educational needs which can be inferred from these results and we discuss findings in terms of educational strategies for patients with sleep apnoeas.