Self-management among Heart Failure Patients

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe heart failure patient's abilities to manage their disease. A descriptive correlational design was used in this study. A convenient sample of 120 adult patients with heart failure was surveyed using Self-Management of Heart Failure Tool as well as, the New York Heart Association (NYHA) Functional Classification to measure their functional status. The findings of this study showed that sixty percent of patient's age ranged from 50 to less than 60 years. Men accounted for 66.7 % of the patient population and 33.3% were women. Most participants were married. The study revealed that recognizing a change in signs and symptoms was positively correlated with both implementing and evaluating treatment with statistical significance. In addition the results showed the statistical significant differences between levels of patients' education and both implementing and evaluating treatment. Finally, statistically significant differences were found between functional status of patients and their ability to recognize change as well as evaluate treatment. Findings of this study highlight the need for using the self management heart failure tool in practice to direct the medical and nursing staff towards the specific problem area for each patient.