Sustainability of Knowledge and Self-Care Practice Gains at a Five-Week Physical Follow-Up Visit, Supported by Interim Telephonic Reinforcement, after a Structured Educational Intervention among Ostomates in Pakistan

Authors

  • Natasha Hussain Chiniot College of Nursing Chiniot
  • Iram Khadim Pak College of Nursing Chiniot
  • Muhammad Umar Department of Software Engineering, National University of Modern Languages (NUML), Islamabad, Faisalabad Campus
  • Rizwan Khalid School of Nursing, Riphah International University Faisalabad

Keywords:

Ostomates, follow-up, telephonic reinforcement, knowledge retention, self-care practice, Pakistan.

Abstract

Background: Immediate gains from patient education can fade without reinforcement, so whether improvements in ostomy knowledge and self-care practice are sustained after discharge is a critical test of an educational intervention's real-world value.

Objective: To evaluate whether improvements in knowledge and self-care practice achieved by a structured educational intervention were sustained, and whether they continued to change, at five-week follow-up among ostomates in a tertiary care hospital in Faisalabad, Pakistan, and to describe the role of structured telephonic reinforcement in that outcome.

Methods: In a quasi-experimental, one-group study, 34 ostomates received a structured educational intervention (a single face-to-face session with hands-on demonstration and an Urdu-language booklet), followed by interim structured telephonic contact for reinforcement and query resolution from the first through the fifth week after discharge. Knowledge and self-care practice were assessed using the Knowledge and Self-Care Practice Tool for Ostomates (Kang & Choudhary, 2024) at one week (T1) and at a physical, face-to-face follow-up visit at five weeks (T2) post-intervention; paired-samples t-tests compared T1 and T2 scores.

Results: Knowledge scores rose further from M = 15.44 (SD = 1.31) at T1 to M = 16.47 (SD = 0.51) at T2 (t(33) = -4.15, p < .001). Self-care practice scores similarly increased from M = 10.18 (SD = 0.87) at T1 to M = 10.82 (SD = 0.39) at T2 (t(33) = -4.11, p < .001).

Conclusion: Gains in knowledge and self-care practice achieved through a structured ostomy education intervention were not only retained but continued to improve by the five-week physical follow-up visit, suggesting that interim telephonic reinforcement between the teaching session and the follow-up visit supports the durability and continued strengthening of ostomates' self-care agency after discharge.

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References

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Zulfiqar, S., Rehman, A., Khan, R., & Ahmed, F. (2022). Formal training in ostomy care among nurses and its impact on patient outcomes in Pakistan. Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences, 38(5), 1123–1130.

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Published

2026-09-28

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 2 (2026): International Journal of Innovative Research

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Natasha Hussain, Iram Khadim, Muhammad Umar, Rizwan Khalid

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