Abstract :
Background: Psoriasis is a chronic disease, which is potentially controllable but cannot be cured. Treatment is long term and requires continuous effort by the patient. Patient education is important for a chronic disease like psoriasis and this involves acquiring knowledge about the disease. With knowledge gained, the patient will be able to cope better with improved decision making and comply with treatment.
Aim: To assess the knowledge about psoriasis in patients diagnosed with psoriasis attending skin outpatient department (OPD) of Sree Balaji Medical College and Hospital, Chennai.
Materials and Methods: This was a cross sectional study, which was conducted at dermatology OPD in Sree Balaji Medical College and Hospital, Chennai 2021 after ethical committee approval. About 80 patients with psoriasis attending OPD were included in study to whom questionnaire with sixteen questions was asked and data was collected and analysed.
Results: A total of 80 individuals were included in this study, out of which 43 were males and 37 were females .79% of study population answered that psoriasis is a long life disease. About 75% and 71% of patients answered that climatic conditions and stress aggravates psoriatic lesions respectively. Results were taken from various questions asked in survery and tabulated.
Conclusion: The results of the present study suggest that an educational intervention may be helpful in improving the knowledge, give psychological relief to patients with psoriasis and improves quality of their life.
Keyword :
Psoriasis, Multifactorial, Chronic, Stress