THE ROLE OF SUBJECTIVE NORMS AND PERCEIVED BEHAVIORAL CONTROL ON SELF-CARE AMONG ELDERLY PATIENTS SUFFERING FROM KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS IN YAZD CITY

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common joint disorder and the most prevalent cause of joint pain across the spectrum of middle age to elderly. The purpose of this study was to determine the role of subjective norms and perceived behavioral control on self-care among elderly patients with osteoarthritis who are suffering from OA in Yazd city, Iran.
A cross-sectional study was conducted and 87 elderly who attained to health centers subjects through simple sampling methods. The data collection instrument was a questionnaire designed for the study which the first includes demographic variables, of subjective norms and perceived behavioral control Part II , and self-care behaviors categories of items Part III. The questionnaires completed by interview and data were analyzed by SPSS18 software using T-Test , ANOVA, correlation coefficient tests.
The mean score of the subjective norms, perceived behavioral control and self-care were 81.85±11.40 (The top 110 scores), 90.19±6.19 (The top 120 scores) and 44.93±5.84 (The top 60 scores), respectively. The results showed that between subjective norms and perceived behavioral control and self-care with demographic variables except education and perceived behavioral control (p =0.001), the history of disease of self-care (p =0.001) and perceived behavioral control and economic status (p =0.002) were not a significant relationship, Also The results Pearson’s correlation test revealed that there was a significant correlation between self-care behaviors and perceived behavioral control (p =0.008, r=0.297).
As for strong association between behavioral control and self-care that we found in our study and high influence and extension of mass media, , it recommends to emphasis on using these methods as educational assistance devices in interventional programs in these medias.