BACKGROUND: Nursing education is a crucial part of nursing practice; however, evidence regarding its impact on quality of life is lacking. No review has addressed the effects of overall nursing education interventions on the quality of life in a general outpatient population. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of nurse-delivered education interventions compared with usual care with regard to the quality of life of outpatients. METHODS: A systematic search was performed to identify randomized controlled trials that examined the effects of nurse-delivered educational interventions on the quality of life of outpatients. The search was performed in December 2012 in the Medline (via PubMed), Embase (via Ovid), and CINAHL (via EBSCO) databases and was limited with regard to publication time and language. The studies were appraised according to methodological quality, and p values were extracted to determine the effectiveness of the interventions. RESULTS: Twenty-nine studies were included in the review. Approximately 70% of the studies included showed no effects on quality of life. The studies that showed positive effects each used different types of interventions. A methodological appraisal revealed biases in most of the studies. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS OF KEY FINDINGS: Because of an overall lack of effectiveness and heterogeneity between studies, no evidence for the effectiveness of nursing education interventions in outpatients was observed. Further studies should examine interventions that focus on quality of life using validated measures.
Copyright by WB Saunders Company.

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