Effectiveness of digital innovation of WhatsApp communication to promote positive health behaviour in nurses with back pain.
Loveness A. NKHATA
, Yolandi BRINK , Dawn ERNSTZEN , Justin BWALYA , Quinette A. LOUW
Key words: Nurses; back pain; digital innovation; WhatsApp; participant activation; self-management
ABSTRACT Background: The importance of back pain disability is increasing in the field of nursing, as it is believed to be a major cause of decreased work performance, which affects patient safety and their health care outcomes. However, nurses with back pain often use passive methods, such as pain medication and sick leave, to alleviate the effects of back pain. But, these have potential side effects such as addiction and stress on the health system due to absence from work. We assessed the effectiveness of a digital innovation on WhatsApp communication to encourage positive health behaviours among nurses with back pain, aimed at reducing the burden of back pain disability in Zambia. Methods: This was a pre-post-test single sample design. Using SPSS version 27, descriptive analysis of the demographic data was conducted, and the Chi-square analysis was used to examine significant differences between the demographics before and after the campaign. For all analyses, the significance level was set at 0.05. Results: Statistically significant differences were observed in professional work settings (p<0.05). There were no significant differences in the participant’s age, gender and work hours, before and after the campaign (p=0.26). Results on back beliefs revealed that six out of the 14 back belief items had undergone significant positive changes and all secondary outcomes relating to the duration of back pain, sick leave, and doctor visits for back pain significantly improved. Conclusion: The 12-week back pain campaign using WhatsApp messaging encouraged participants to take control of their own pain management through the use of contextualized, evidence-based back pain messages. Some of the back beliefs were significantly altered as a result of the campaign and the use of painkillers and healthcare services for back pain decreased as a result of the increased knowledge about back pain and the resulting changes in beliefs and abilities to self-manage.
"Effectiveness of digital innovation of WhatsApp communication to promote positive health behaviour in nurses with back pain.", IJSDR - International Journal of Scientific Development and Research (www.IJSDR.org), ISSN:2455-2631, Vol.8, Issue 7, page no.1346 - 1357, July-2023, Available :https://ijsdr.org/papers/IJSDR2307202.pdf
Volume 8
Issue 7,
July-2023
Pages : 1346 - 1357
Paper Reg. ID: IJSDR_208041
Published Paper Id: IJSDR2307202
Downloads: 000347330
Research Area: Health Science
Country: Lusaka, Lusaka, Zambia
ISSN: 2455-2631 | IMPACT FACTOR: 9.15 Calculated By Google Scholar | ESTD YEAR: 2016
An International Scholarly Open Access Journal, Peer-Reviewed, Refereed Journal Impact Factor 9.15 Calculate by Google Scholar and Semantic Scholar | AI-Powered Research Tool, Multidisciplinary, Monthly, Multilanguage Journal Indexing in All Major Database & Metadata, Citation Generator
Publisher: IJSDR(IJ Publication) Janvi Wave
