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Objectives: To investigate the factors influencing self-care in a consecutive sample of postmenopausal osteoporotic Italian women.Study Design: This was a multicentric, longitudinal study (Guardian Angel) conducted across several osteoporosis centres throughout Italy.Main Outcome Measures: Sociodemographic and clinical data (age, education, employment status, body mass index (BMI), fracture history) were collected at baseline, while self-care behaviours were assessed at baseline, and at one, three and six months from enrolment with the Self-Care of Osteoporosis Scale (SCOS). The SCOS has a total score ranging from 15 to 75 for women who take osteoporosis drugs, while for those who do not take any osteoporosis drug the score is between 13 and 65. Higher scores indicate better self-care. A three-level general linear mixed model with a random intercept for participants and regions was implemented to investigate the possible associations of the sociodemographic and clinical factors with longitudinal SCOS scores.Results: The sample (n= 1525) had a mean age of 72.1 years (standard deviation [SD] = ±10.07), with a high proportion retired (64.2%) and with a low education level (45.8%). Approximately half of the women declared taking multiple medications (70.14%) and osteoporosis pharmacotherapy (69.7%). Average longitudinal SCOS scores ranged between 53.17 and 56.68, indicating a satisfactory level of self-care. There were significant and positive relationships between SCOS scores and time (p < 0.001) and number of medications taken (p < 0.001). Negative relationships were found between SCOS and BMI scores (p= 0.013), smoking status (p < 0.001) and presence of recent fractures (p < 0.001).Conclusions: Several modifiable characteristics were associated with self-care behaviours in our sample of women with postmenopausal osteoporosis. Psychoeducational interventions are promising in this population to counteract unhealthy behaviours and, ultimately, to promote self-care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Osteoporosis mostly affects females over 50 years old, worldwide. The main osteoporosis complication is fragility fractures that reduce quality of life and cause morbidity and mortality. Most patients who have fragility fractures are treated for the fracture. However, patients' adherence to follow-up treatment plans is poor. Therefore, tailored educational interventions are needed to improve medication adherence and healthy lifestyles. In this context, the role of bone care nurses is important, as they can act at different levels of osteoporosis prevention and fracture liaison services, which are se-condary fracture prevention programmes implemented by health care systems to treat osteoporotic patients. In Italy, a research project called Guardian Angel® was developed to provide tailored education to osteoporotic women in order to improve their disease management and reduce related complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Osteoporosis has a significant impact on affected patients. Healthcare providers should encourage postmenopausal women to improve self-care maintenance behaviors and quality of life following a fragility fracture. The aims of this study were to a) develop two new instruments for measuring, respectively, self-care maintenance and quality of life, in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis; b) evaluate the effectiveness of a tailored educational intervention to improve self-care maintenance and quality of life after a fragility fracture in postmenopausal women. For the first aim, a cross-sectional study will be performed; for the second aim, a multicenter, quasi-experimental, interventional design will be used. A convenience sample of postmenopausal women admitted to 44 hospitals in Italy with a diagnosis of bone fragility fracture will be enrolled and surveyed at 7, 30, 60 and 180 days after discharge. Trained nurses will conduct the educational intervention. The new instruments will allow the measurement of self-care and quality of life in postmenopausal women following a fragility fracture. Through tailored educational interventions, women can be helped to take their medications correctly, adopt a healthy lifestyle, reduce the occurrence of bone fractures, and have a better quality of life.