Journal of Community Medicine & Health Education
Open Access

Research Article

Learning Preference And Motivation To Learn By Age And Gender In Patients With Chronic Wound

¹Professor and Research Director, Center for the Study of Health Disparities Health and Kinesiology Department, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA

²Professor, Health and Kinesiology Department, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA

³Professor, Health and Kinesiology Department, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA

⁴National Healing Corporation, Boca Raton, Florida, USA

⁵Graduate Student, Health and Kinesiology Department, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA

⁶Professor, College of Medicine and Director, Ohio State University Comprehensive Wound Center, Columbus Ohio, USA

*Corresponding Author:

Ranjita Misra
Professor, Department of Health and kinesiology
158V Read Building, Texas
A&M University, College Station
TX 77843, USA
Tel: 979-845-8726
Fax: 979-847-8987
E-mail: misra@hlkn.tamu.edu

Received date: December 01, 2011; Accepted date: February 23, 2012; Published date: February 25, 2012

Citation: Misra R, McBride R, Xiang P, Lambert L, Kahar P, et al. (2012) Learning Preference and Motivation to Learn by Age and Gender in Patients with Chronic Wound. J Community Med Health Edu 2:127. doi:10.4172/jcmhe.1000127

Copyright: © 2012 Misra R, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Background: Effective patient education requires assessment of patients’ learning preferences. Learning preferences and motivation to learn are largely unexplored among patients with chronic wounds.

Objective: This study examined learning preferences and motivation to learn in adult patients by age and gender. Design and methods: A retrospective study design. Data were abstracted from 1003 (29 % elderly, 53% females) patient charts at a Chronic Wound Center; patients were treated for non-healing chronic wounds.

Key results: The mean age was 55.2 ± 17 years; 48% had a high school education. Half (51%) were eager to learn and 69% asked questions but 17% were anxious/uninterested/confused/ uncooperative during assessment by the nurse manager. The majority preferred to learn by explanation (59%) or demonstration (56%); printed materials (34%), video and group learning (1%) was not favored. Females preferred the demonstration/printed materials than males (p<.05); females and older patients (≥ 65 years) were less likely to ask questions and were anxious than males/ younger patients. Motivation to learn was a significant predictor of wound closure in the multivariate logistic regression model (p<.05).

Conclusions: Results have implications for tailoring treatment regimens, particularly those involving self-care measures.

Practice implications: Tailored age- and gender-education and visual models for learning can improve compliance and empower patients.

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