Psychometric testing of the self-care of heart failure index

Abstract

Background: Self-care is believed to improve outcomes in heart failure (HF) Heart failure (HF) is associated with poor outcomes and self-care is promoted as a way to improve outcomes in this patient population.1 Education intended to promote self-care has become the cornerstone of HF disease management efforts. However, research testing the effectiveness of these interventions is hampered by difficulties in measuring self-care.Self-care is defined as a naturalistic decision making process involving the choice of behaviors that maintain physiologic stability (self-care maintenance) and the response to symptoms when they occur (self-care management). Riegel and colleagues published a clinical tool, the Self-Management of HF scale, 2 based on this definition. That tool was lengthy and designed to be used by clinicians to assess self-management decision making. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the reliability (consistency of measurement) and validity (extent to which the instrument measures what it is intended to measure) of a revised version of that instrument, the Self-Care of Heart Failure Index (SCHFI), a self-report measure comprising 15 items divided into 3 subscales. The SCHFI measures self-care maintenance, self-care management, and self-care self-confidence in a short, focused manner that minimizes subject burden.

Comparison of self-care behaviors of heart failure patients in 15 countries worldwide

“…The SCHFI has been translated into numerous languages and is used worldwide to study the self-care of HF patients. The SCHFI was updated in 2009 with the addition of 7 items, including questions about medication adherence [15,16].…”

Nurses' strategies to address self-care aspects related to medication adherence and symptom recognition in heart failure patients: An in-depth look

“…Self-care is considered to be a method for improving these outcomes [2] and is recommended as a part of successful heart failure treatment [3]. Selfcare can be defined as actions aimed at maintaining life, healthy functioning, and well-being [4]. One aspect of self-care is adherence to medical treatment [2].…”

Ações de autocuidado em portadores de insuficiência cardíaca

“…Socio-demographic profile: sex, marital status and cohabitants, religion, educational status, work status and income; 2. Knowledge of the disease, hospitalizations and actions due to the clinical aggravation of heart failure: time of knowledge regarding the disease, history of hospitalizations due to decompensated heart failure over the last twelve months, difficulty and location for weight control, as well as actions due to weight gain, dyspnea and edema, annual influenza vaccination, (7,8) and topic on non-pharmacological treatment. (9) 3.…”