The project seeks to use the knowledge and experience of persons with hand eczema to target an effort so that self management is supported and the prognosis of chronic hand eczema is improved.
In the first part of the project the concept of self management is examined and defined with respect to individuals with chronic hand eczema. In addition a number of focus group interviews with current and former patients will be conducted to study which factors affect their self management in relation to hand eczema.
In the second part of the project the knowledge gathered will be used to develop and test an intervention to study if this increases the patients' ability to comply with research-based advice on skin care for prevention and treatment of hand eczema compared with a control group. In addition, it will be assessed if the intervention improves prognosis of hand eczema and leads to better quality of life for the patients.
The research carried out by MSc, RN and PhD-fellow Annette Mollerup from the National Allergy Research Centre.
