An integrative literature review on nursing interventions aimed at increasing self-care among heart failure patients

Abstract

Objective: to analyze and summarize knowledge concerning critical components of interventions that have been proposed and implemented by nurses with the aim of optimizing self-care by heart failure patients. Methods: PubMed and CINAHL were the electronic databases used to search full peer-reviewed papers, presenting descriptions of nursing interventions directed to patients or to patients and their families and designed to optimize self-care. Forty-two studies were included in the final sample (n=4,799 patients). Results: this review pointed to a variety and complexity of nursing interventions. As self-care encompasses several behaviors, interventions targeted an average of 3.6 behaviors. Educational/counselling activities were combined or not with cognitive behavioral strategies, but only about half of the studies used a theoretical background to guide interventions. Clinical assessment and management were frequently associated with self-care interventions, which varied in number of sessions (1 to 30); length of follow-up (2 weeks to 12 months) and endpoints. Conclusions: these findings may be useful to inform nurses about further research in self-care interventions in order to propose the comparison of different modalities of intervention, the use of theoretical background and the establishment of endpoints to evaluate their effectiveness.

Transitional Care Interventions for Patients with Heart Failure: An Integrative Review

“…Thus, research in this area is urgent. Similar to our finding, a previous review has also pointed out the importance of research conducted in various countries [50].…”

Influence of socio-demographic characteristics in the self-care of people with heart failure

“…The continuous clinical follow-up of patients with HF is recommended in the recent guidelines on the clinical management of HF, and the patient's successful performance of self-care is one of the main strategies of the health care plan (3) , emphasizing its importance to the maintenance of healthier conditions. Thus, the nursing interventions that aim to adequately meet the needs of the patient require careful planning (including an accurate assessment of these needs), with the choice of the best approach and a thorough assessment of its effectiveness in the optimization of self-care practices, translated into clinical results (17) .…”

Cluster randomized controlled trial testing the effectiveness of a self‐management intervention using the teach‐back method for people with heart failure

“…A recent trial (Boyde et al, ) also did not observe differences in self‐care between the intervention and control groups at 12 months, although in Boyde et al’s () study, specialist education was also given to participants allocated to usual care, which probably reduced the distinction between the groups. Improved knowledge of HF might not translate into behavior changes (Boisvert et al, ), suggesting that modification to future interventions might be needed.…”