Introduction:

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an important public health problem which affects the quality of life. Consequently, interventions aimed at reducing these impacts are necessary.

Objective:

To determine the effect of an educational group activity on the quality of life of persons with COPD being attended in a fourth level institution in Bogota, Colombia, in september, 2017 and june, 2018.

Methods:

The study design was quasi-experimental. The independent variable was the educational group activity, and the dependent variable was the quality of life measured by the St George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ). Patients were randomized using a computer generated table. The control group (n=30) received the usual intervention while the experimental group (n=30) had an educational group activity designed under international recommendations and given by the nursing staff. Patients who had had other group activities during the last two months were excluded.

Results:

The post intervention quality of life mean was 41% and 32% for the control and experimental groups respectively. The most compromised dimension was activity. No statistically significant differences were found in the within-group and between-group analyzes.

Discussion:

The slight post intervention improvement in the dimensions of activity and impact is consistent with other similar studies, but results might vary in relation to the activities performed.

Conclusions:

This group activity did not induce a statistically significant improvement in the overall quality of life of persons living with COPD, nevertheless, slight improvements were found in the dimensions of activity, impact, and total score.