Healthcare for patients with interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome based on internet health education

Interstitial cystitis (IC) is a chronic disease which highly degrades the quality of life for patients. The objective of this study is to adopt Internet intervention for caring IC patients to alleviate their pains and bothering symptoms. Healthcare education was conducted through Internet by asking the patients, divided into study and control groups, to check contraindications, habits, and behaviors weekly to remind and consolidate important rules for promoting quality of life (QOL). Questionnaires, including SF-36, O'Leary-Sant symptom and problem indices, and VAS pain and urgency scales, were used to evaluate improvements of quality of life before and after ICT intervention. The results show that the QOL of patients in the study group with ICT intervention have been significantly improved compared to the patients in the control group. The E-health system was demonstrated to be effective in improving QOL of IC patients through intervention of Internet healthcare education for the consolidation of healthy dieting habit and life style.