Nurse Managed Upper Body Strength Training in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

People with moderate to severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) experience intense symptoms of dyspnea when they use their arms and shoulders. To control dyspnea they avoid using their arms and ultimately experience a significant loss of upper body (UB) strength and a decrease in the level of physical activity. Some pulmonary rehabilitation programs include strength training, but the training intensity is typically very low. The purpose of this research is to examine the effects of UB strength training (designed to maximize strength gains) with a self-confidence intervention to enhance adherence to exercise. This is an experimental study with random assignment of subjects to one experimental and two control groups: (a) UB strength training and self-efficacy intervention for adherence (experimental), (b) UB strength training with health education (control 1) and (c) gentle armchair fitness exercises with health education (control 2). Each subject will be studied for a total of 16 months.The intervention period is four months in duration with a 12-month follow-up period. The sample will be people with moderate to severe COPD who experience dyspnea with UB activities. This research is innovative in that it examines the effects of upper body strength training designed to maximize strength gains and combines it with a theory-based self-efficacy (confidence-building) intervention to promote adherence to training in people with COPD.