Effects of Follow-Up Care Model on Different Aspects of Quality Of Life of Patients: A Review Article

Background: The most important clinical goal or purpose of clinical care is to reduce the severity of symptoms and stresses caused by it, so that the quality of life is preserved. Due to the nature of chronic diseases and the inadequacy of existing programs, there is a need for pattern and follow-up care affecting the quality of life of these patients. One of these models is the follow-up care. The purpose of this study was to have an integrative review and to provide a comprehensive understanding and discovering the effects of follow-up care model on different aspects of quality of life of patients based on the studies that have been up to this day. Materials and Methods: This study is a review article which has been conducted with the use of all articles published in this regard so far (2002-2015) and the key words of follow-up care, quality of life and chronic diseases on internet search databases such as Yahoo, Google and other medical databases like Google Scholar, Pubmed, Scopus, SID, Iranmedx; by searching and obtaining the original articles, the current article have been written. Results: That most studies had been conducted on patients with physical chronic disease, and only one study had been conducted on patients with chronic mental disorders, all studies confirm the effectiveness of follow-up care model on quality of life are of variety of chronic diseases Conclusion: Based on the results, it is suggested that more studies should be conducted on patients with chronic mental disorders so the effects of follow-up care model on all aspects of chronic mental disorders would be determined and more precise results would be obtained. On the other hand, based on its pandemic benefits of this model, and due to a need for using new care models for improving the health of patients with chronic diseases, it is suggested that follow-up care model should be used in health policies as an organized and appropriate model alongside with other care and family models. Keywords: Follow-up care model, Quality of life, Chronic diseases