The effect of telenursing on adherence to treatment in adolescents undergoing cardiac surgery

This study aimed to investigate the effect of telenursing on adherence to treatment in adolescents undergoing cardiac surgery.

Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) has a significant global prevalence and a large number of patients undergo cardiac surgery every year. Adherence to treatment is essential to achieve the expected outcomes of surgery.

This study was a quasi-experimental before-after study with control groups that was conducted in the year 2020. A total of 70 adolescents referred to a university cardiovascular medical and research center in Tehran, Iran, were recruited based on the inclusion criteria and then, randomly assigned to experimental (n=35) and control (n=35) group. The experimental group received a telenursing services via WhatsApp messenger for one month. Modanloochr('39')s questionnaire of adherence to treatment was used to collect the data. Data were analyzed in SPSS V-20 using descriptive and inferential statistics.

There was no statistically significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of demographic variables. Before intervention, the mean score of adherence to treatment in the experimental and control groups was 71.67±6.97 and 71.77±7.89, respectively, which were not statistically different. After intervention, the mean score of adherence to treatment in the experimental and control group changed by 15.17 and -2.49, respectively, and the difference between the groups was found to be highly significant (P≤0.0001).

 According to the findings, telenursing improved adherence to the treatment. Therefore, it is recommended to provide the ground to take the benefits of this approach through increasing public information and awareness and empowering the nursing staff.