Effect of Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation of Lower Limbs on Improving Exercise Self-Efficacy, Dyspnea During Activity and Fatigue in Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Condition(s) studied

Investigational drug(s) / intervention(s)

lower limb neuromuscular electrical stimulation: The study adopts a quasi-experimental design with convenience sampling. Data collection will be done through structured questionnaires. Patients who meet the inclusion criteria will be referred by physicians, and before enrollment, a verbal introduction will be given explaining the study's purpose, the questionnaire, and the intervention procedure and duration. The experimental group will participate in both pulmonary rehabilitation exercises and an additional intervention of lower limb neuromuscular electrical stimulation, 30 minutes per session, three times per week, for eight weeks. The control group will only participate in pulmonary rehabilitation exercises. Based on Hill et al. (2018), neuromuscular electrical stimulation should continue for 4 to 8 weeks. Questionnaires will be administered before the intervention and at the 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 8th weeks post-intervention, including basic information, Modified Medical Research Council Dyspnea Scale, Manchester COPD Fatigue Scale,

pulmonary rehabilitation exercises: The control group only participated in the lung rehabilitation exercise program (after which the control group received electrical stimulation for two months)

Study summary

Patients diagnosed with COPD who meet the inclusion and exclusion criteria, either inpatients or outpatients, will be informed about the study'sstudy's purpose and procedures by the principal investigator. After understanding their rights, they will provide informed consent.

Eligibility

Primary outcome measure(s)

• Change exercise self-efficacy — 8 weeks
  This scale is used to assess an individual's confidence in performing exercise behaviors when faced with various situations that are not conducive to exercise. The Chinese version of the Sports Self-efficacy Scale consists of 10 questions, scored from 0 to 10, to understand the degree of confidence in engaging in sports. "0" represents little confidence, and "10" represents great confidence. The higher the score, the more confident one is in performing sports in the face of various situations and obstacles.
• change dyspnea during activity — 8 weeks
  Modified Medical Research Council(mMRC)
• change fatigue — 8 weeks
  The Manchester fatigue scale (MFS) is divided into three aspects, including fatigue conditions such as physiological level (11 questions), cognitive feelings (9 questions) and psychosocial function (7 questions). There are 27 questions in total, with a five-point scoring method. The scoring method is 1 point for "never", 2 points for "rarely", 3 points for "sometimes", 4 points for "often", and 5 points for "always". The higher the score, the higher the degree of fatigue.

Trial sites (1)

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