Evaluation of a national progamme of therapeutic patient education for farmers with cardiovascular diseases in France

Evaluation of a national progamme of therapeutic patient education for farmers with cardiovascular diseases in France. Introduction: The french health social organization for farmers (Mutualité Sociale Agricole MSA), has launched in 2006–2008 a therapeutic patient education (TPE) project for his afiliated members with cardiovascular diseases. Seven hundred eighty-six volunteers in 16 french regions, (men: 496, women: 290, mean age: 67) identified by their family physician have attended a 9 h TPE programme in 3 sessions, teached in group by a multidisciplinary team trained in the pedagogy of TPE. Methods: We have evaluated (1) the patients’ satisfaction, (2) the knowledge acquired and their degree of certainty concerning this knowledge, (3) the changes in heath behaviors at six months (healthy eating, physical activity, self-care, compliance), (4) bio-clinical outcomes (weight, reduction of tabacco consumption, blood pressure, cholesterol, glycaemia). Results: Results indicate a gain in knowledge mainly on important issues (safety skills, better understanding of the treatment). The patients declare to have brought significant changes in their eating behaviors and physical activites. Their satisfaction towards the TPE programme is high (90%). Several bio-clinical parameters (BMI, cholestérol, triglycerids. . . ) are significantly improved. Conclusion: The MSA project has developed a TPE programme for a large number of aged patient with CV diseases. The improvement of accessibily of TPE for patients living in rural communities is discussed.