Evaluation of Effect of Family-centered Intervention by SMS on Quality of Life of Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction

Patients with acute myocardial infarction (MI) need care due to the complications of the disease. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of the family-centered intervention on the quality of life of patients with acute MI.

A randomized clinical trial study was conducted on 80 patients with acute myocardial infarction, who were hospitalized in Hajar and Kashani hospitals in Shahrekord, Iran and one of their family members. The subjects were randomly divided into two groups of control (N=40) and test (N=40) using statistical software. In the test group, four short messages were sent weekly for three months about necessary care after MI. On the other hand, subjects in the control group received routine intervention. After that, the quality of life of subjects was assessed before and immediately after the termination of intervention in both groups. In addition, data were collected using demographic characteristics questionnaire and McNeigh's quality of life inventory. Furthermore, data analysis was performed in SPSS version 23 using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation), as well independent and paired t-tests.

The findings were indicative of no significant difference between the test and control groups regarding the mean score of quality of life. However, a significant difference was found between the groups after the intervention in this regard. Moreover, the mean scores of changes in the quality of life of subjects in the test and control group were significantly different before and after the intervention. The results of the independent t-test demonstrated a significant difference between mean changes in the quality of life of the study groups.

According to the results of the study, SMS intervention as a distance learning method improved the quality of life in patients. Therefore, it is recommended that the intervention be applied to improve the quality of life in patients after acute MI.