Jaarsma T, Strömberg A, Ben Gal T, Cameron J, Driscoll A, Duengen HD, Inkrot S, Huang TY, Huyen NN, Kato N, Köberich S, Lupón J, Moser DK, Pulignano G, Rabelo ER, Suwanno J, Thompson DR, Vellone E, Alvaro R, Yu D, Riegel B. Comparison of self-care behaviors of heart failure patients in 15 countries worldwide.
Patient Educ Couns 2013;
92:114-120. [PMID:
23579040 DOI:
10.1016/j.pec.2013.02.017]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 176] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2012] [Revised: 01/09/2013] [Accepted: 02/24/2013] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE
Clinicians worldwide seek to educate and support heart failure patients to engage in self-care. We aimed to describe self-care behaviors of patients from 15 countries across three continents.
METHODS
Data on self-care were pooled from 5964 heart failure patients from the United States, Europe, Australasia and South America. Data on self-care were collected with the Self-care of Heart Failure Index or the European Heart Failure Self-care Behavior Scale.
RESULTS
In all the samples, most patients reported taking their medications as prescribed but exercise and weight monitoring were low. In 14 of the 22 samples, more than 50% of the patients reported low exercise levels. In 16 samples, less than half of the patients weighed themselves regularly, with large differences among the countries. Self-care with regard to receiving an annual flu shot and following a low sodium diet varied most across the countries.
CONCLUSION
Self-care behaviors are sub-optimal in heart failure patients and need to be improved worldwide.
PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS
Interventions that focus on specific self-care behaviors may be more effective than general educational programs. Changes in some health care systems and national policies are needed to support patients with heart failure to increase their self-care behavior.
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