Web-based education enhances self-care agency, self-efficacy, and quality of life in patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty: a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Total knee arthroplasty plays a pivotal role in restoring patients' quality of life; however, challenges related to postoperative adaptation and self-care remain significant. Integrating technology into patient education through web-based and mobile application-supported interventions has emerged as an innovative approach to strengthen recovery and enhance patient outcomes. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of a web-based education (WBE) program on self-care power, self-efficacy, and quality of life in patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty. METHODS: This prospective, two-group clinical trial was conducted between January and October 2024 at the Orthopedics and Traumatology Clinic of a city hospital. A total of 67 patients were assigned to either the WBE group (n = 33) or the control group (n = 34). The control group received standard unstructured discharge education, whereas the WBE group received the same education plus a one-month web-based education program using a mobile application starting on the 15th day post-discharge. Data were collected via the Self-Care Agency Scale (SCAS), the Self-Efficacy Scale (SES), and the Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36) at 15 days and one-month post-discharge. RESULTS: No significant baseline differences were observed between the WBE and control groups (p > 0.05). After the intervention, the WBE group showed significantly greater improvements in self-care agency, self-efficacy, and quality of life compared with the control group (p < 0.05). Mixed-design ANOVA demonstrated significant group×time interaction effects for all outcomes, with large effects for self-care agency (ηp²=0.703-0.827) and moderate to large effects for self-efficacy (ηp² = 0.435-0.719) and SF-36 quality-of-life subdimensions (ηp²=0.451-0.713). CONCLUSION: Web-designed education via mobile applications was shown to be effective in improving the self-care power and self-efficacy and increasing the quality of life of patients undergoing TKA. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This study was registered in the ClinicalTrials.gov database as (NCT06306027) Protocol Registration and Results System.