Effect of Family-Centered Education on Laboratory Index of Patients after Acute Myocardial Infarction

Myocardial infarction is one of the main causes of death and disability in the world. Adherence of therapeutic regimen is an important caring option in these patients. This study has been conducted to determine the effect of family-centered education on laboratory index of patients after acute myocardial infarction.
This clinical trial was performed between October and March 2014 in CCUward of Amirkabir hospital of Arak. Research samples were 60 patients with 30-70 years old who had been selected by convenience method after the first heart attack and randomly assigned into two groups: control (patient-centered education: 30 individuals) and intervention (family-centered education: 30 individuals). On admission, blood sugar and blood lipids (Chol, TG, HDL, LDL) were examined. Theneducation to patients was done in the intervention group associated with close family member through computers in three domains (diet, pharmaceutical regimen and exercise program) in three sessions of 30-45 minutes and the same educational content were taught to the patient (without family members) in the control group. Three months after the intervention, all aforementioned items were recorded again in two groups and, finally, data were analyzed using independent t-test and Chi-square test.
The results indicated that laboratory indexincluding blood sugar (P=0.03), blood lipids (P=0.0001) in the family-centered group was better than patient-centered group. However, there was not a significant difference between the two groups in aforementioned items before the intervention (P> 0.05).
According to the findings of this study, it seems that family-centered education model improves laboratory index of the patients with myocardial infarction. It is recommended that the educational interventions for the patients with myocardial infarction to be done with the participation of the family.