Effects of a family support program on self-care behaviors in patients with congestive heart failure

BACKGROUND: Heart failure is one of the chronic heart diseases and a debilitating condition of increased prevalence in the elderly. One of the important and non-pharmacological strategies for improving clinical outcomes in these patients is promotion of the self-care. Background and social environment in which a patient is trying to control his disease is an important factor in the self-care. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of family support intervention on the self-care behaviors in patients with heart failure. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was a randomized clinical trial conducted in university hospitals in Isfahan, Iran, in 2012. A total of 62 patients with heart failure were randomly assigned to experimental (n = 32) and control (n = 32) groups. Supportive intervention including three educational sessions with the delivery of educational booklet and follow-up by telephone was performed for caregivers of patients in the experimental group. Data were collected using the questionnaire of self-care behaviors, which was completed before and 1 month after the intervention in both the groups, and the questionnaires were analyzed using descriptive statistics and independent and paired t-tests. RESULTS: The results indicate that after the intervention, self-care behavior scores in the experimental group and control group were 47.2 and 28.4, respectively, and independent t-test revealed that the difference was statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Family-focused supportive interventions can be used as an effective method for improving the self-care behaviors in patients with heart failure.