Tailored communication strategies according to patient characteristics for older adults with benign prostatic hyperplasia: A cross-sectional study.

AIM: This study aims to cluster communication types in older adults with BPH mainly based on differences in their characteristics (cognitive function and adaptive level).

METHODS

The study included 208 patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia aged 60 years or older. Cognitive function and adaptive level were used as sub-variables to cluster the communication behaviors of these patients. SPSS 24.0 was used to analyse the data, including descriptive statistics, k-means clustering analysis, analysis of variance and chi-square test.

RESULTS

Analysis revealed four clusters: named as 'adaptive support type', 'mixed communication type', 'high-quality communication type', and 'cognitive compensation type'. Besides differences in cognitive function and adaptive level, the clusters differed on education level, residence registration, monthly income, work status, and participate Intellectual activity.

CONCLUSIONS

Healthcare providers can use the results of cluster analysis to improve their knowledge of communication types and tailor communication strategies for older BPH surgery patients.