The Self-Care Behaviors in Patients with Heart Failure Admitted to Afshar Hospital in Yazd

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in Iran. Heart failure is the only cardiovascular disease whose incidence is on the increase. Self-care¡ one of the important aspects of treatment in patients with heart failure¡ which will control complications of the disease. This study aimed to determine behaviors in patients with heart failure referring to Yazd’s Afshar Cardiac Center in 1392.
The present cross sectional and descriptive study was carried out on 150 patients with heart failure admitted to Afshar hospital of Yazd. The sampling method was convenience. Data were collected by the demographic questionnaire and the European questionnaire of self-care behaviors validity and reliability have been confirmed in previous studies in Iran. Data collection methods include records of patients and structured interviews with patients which were analyzed by descriptive tests and independent t test¡ Kruskal-Wallis¡ chi-square and ANOVA.
The results showed that the majority of patients (83. 3%) had mediocre self-care behaviors and only 4. 7 percent of the samples had good self-care behavior. 60. 7% percent of statistical population were male. The average age of patients was 58. 94 ±1. 64 year¡ the average of the percent of Ejection Fraction was 31. 17 ± 6. 29 and duration of illness was equal to 42. 35 ± 2. 38. Among the self-care behaviors «I''m taking drugs accordance with physician orders» with an average of 1. 29¡ «I''ll call the doctor if increased dyspnea” with an average of 1. 71 and “I dedicate my time to rest during the day» with an average of 2. 07 had the highest percentage among other behaviors. Statistical tests showed a significant relationship between self-care behaviors with sex (P=0. 005) ¡ EF (P=0. 004) and other chronic diseases (P=0. 023).
The self-care behavior in patients with heart failure is low relatively. Hence patients suffering from heart disease require continuous training. Therefore¡ self-care education to these patients should be at the helm of the Healthcare team.