Structure and content components of self‐management interventions that improve health‐related quality of life in people with inflammatory bowel disease: a systematic review, meta‐analysis and meta‐regression

Aims and objectives The purpose of this review was to identify and categorise the components of the content and structure of effective self‐management interventions for patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Background Inflammatory bowel diseases are chronic gastrointestinal disorders impacting health‐related quality of life. Although the efficacy of self‐management interventions has been demonstrated in previous studies, the most effective components of the content and structure of these interventions remain unknown. Design A systematic review, meta‐analysis and meta‐regression of randomised controlled trials was used. Methods A systematic search of six electronic databases, including Pubmed, Embase, Cochrane central register of controlled trials, Web of Science, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, was conducted. Content analysis was used to categorise the components of the content and structure of effective self‐management interventions for inflammatory bowel disease. Clinically important and statistically significant beneficial effects on health‐related quality of life were explored, by comparing the association between effect sizes and various components of self‐management interventions such as the presence or absence of specific content and different delivery methods. Results Fifteen randomised controlled trials were included in this review. Distance or remote self‐management interventions demonstrated a larger effect size. However, there is no evidence for a positive effect associated with specific content component of self‐management interventions in adult patients with inflammatory bowel disease in general. Conclusions The results showed that self‐management interventions have positive effects on health‐related quality of life in patients with inflammatory bowel disease, and distance or remote self‐management programmes had better outcomes than other types of interventions. Relevance to clinical practice This review provides useful information to clinician and researchers when determining components of effective self‐management programmes for patients with inflammatory bowel disease. More high‐quality randomised controlled trials are needed to test the results.