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Abstract Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of exercise on fatigue and quality of life among patients with systemic lupus erythematosus Setting and Population A quasi experimental (Pretest and posttest) design was used. The study was conducted at The study was conducted at chronic Illness Clinics in the teaching Hospital of Menofia University, at Shebin El-Kom district, Menofia Governorate. A convenient sample of seventy patients of both sexes, aged from 19 to 65 years old was selected.To Achieve the Purpose of the Current Study the following tools were used:I- A Semi Structured Demographic Sheet II- Piper Fatigue Scale (PFS) was developed by Piper (1998)to assess fatigue level, it contains 22 items categorized into 4 reliable and correlated dimensions: behavioral severity (6 items); relating to the severity and degree of disruption in activity of daily living; affective meaning (5 items) relating to the emotional meaning attributed to fatigue; sensory (5 items), relating to the physical symptoms; and cognitive and Effect of Exercises on Fatigue and Quality of life among Patients with SLE 2 mood (6 items), relating to mental and mood states. The score of the scale ranged from zero to ten, total and subscale mean scores are derived from summing individual items and dividing by the number of items in the subscale/total scale to maintain the 0-10 scaling. With severity codes :-(0) none,(1-3)mild.(4-6)moderate and (7-10)severe. The higher scores correspond to higher fatigue level. III- SLE Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire (SLESQOL) Was developed by Freire, et al., (2010) to assess quality-of life (QOL) in individual with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). It contains 40 items, including physical functioning (6 items), activities (9 items),symptoms (8 items), treatment (4 items), mood (4 items), and self-image (9 items). The scale score ranged from 0 to 7. A summary score is derived from the sum of all responses across the domains; alternatively the authors suggest that a summary score can be obtained by taking the mean of each of the six domains. The total sum of scores ranges from 40–280, with higher values corresponding to worse quality-of-life.IV- Designed Observational Sheet was developed by the researcher to record patients’ daily performance and duration of exercises per week.Effect of Exercises on Fatigue and Quality of life among Patients with SLE 3 The study revealed the following findings:• The mean age of the participant was (28.68±7.25) years old among the study group, belonging to the gender; the majority of study participants (90%) were female and (10) % was male .• There was highly statistically significant difference in piper fatigue total score pre and post intervention in the study group. • There was statistically significant difference in quality of life pre and post intervention in the study group.Conclusion: Fatigue should be considered as an important factor influencing patient daily life independent of disease activity. Also, it can be< concluded that adding exercise to patient schedule had a great effect on the reduction of fatigue and improving quality of life among patients with systemic lupus erysthmatosus. Recommendations: Implications for Nursing Practice Fatigue is an important factor influencing patient daily life independent of disease activity and patients with severe fatigue should be assessed for possible poor QoL.• Prepare training programs for nurses about the importance of adding exercise to patient schedule for the reduction of fatigue and Effect of Exercises on Fatigue and Quality of life among Patients with SLE 4 improvement of quality of life among patients with systemic lupus erythematosus along with the routine hospital care.• Distribute the designed booklets about the importance of exercise at the chronic illness clinics to benefit individuals with SLE who suffer from fatigue.• Encouraging individuals with SLE to increase their physical daily activity and increase their awareness about the beneficial effects of exercise in improving quality of life. Implications for Further Research The study findings showed that patients with SLE benefited from the exercise intervention, it is important to notice that the study included only patients with low to moderate disease activity. Thus, there is a need to examine the effects and safety of exercise for patients with high disease activity. • Extend the study period beyond three months to assess the maintenance of the positive effects of exercise on fatigue level and quality of life at SLE patients.• Replication of this study is recommended with several design changes such as, using large sample size; using of randomized selection to achieve appropriate representation of population; and conducting the study in a larger scale to include multicenter. |