The roles of health literacy and social support in improving adherence to self‐care behaviours among older adults with heart failure

AIM: To describe the associations between health literacy, social support and self‐care behaviours in older adults with heart failure. DESIGN: A cross‐sectional descriptive study. METHODS: A total of 252 older adults were recruited from a tertiary care hospital from September 2018–February 2019. Structured questionnaires and medical record reviews were used for data collection. Two steps of hierarchical regression analysis were employed to determine the predictors of self‐care behaviours. RESULTS: Health literacy (β = 0.27, p < .001) and social support (β = 0.32, p < .001) were significant determinants of self‐care behaviours in older adults with heart failure. Together, they explained 22% of the variance in self‐care behaviours. CONCLUSION: Health literacy and perceived social support were positively associated with self‐care behaviours among older heart failure patients. Our findings can help health professionals develop heart failure self‐care interventions to enhance health literacy skills and social support for older adults.