The effect of self-management based discharge planning on treatment adherence in patients with heart failure

Patients with heart failure experience some outcomes such as poor self-management, poor adherence to treatment and low quality of life. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the effect of self-management based discharge planning on treatment adherence in patients with heart failure.

Methods & Materials: 

In this quasi-experimental research, 80 patients with heart failure hospitalized in teaching hospitals in Zahedan in 2019-2020, were selected by convenience sampling and were randomly allocated into either intervention or control groups. The self-management-based discharge plan consisted of four educational sessions in hospital for the intervention group. In order to follow up, the first call was made 2-3 days after discharge. Then, the patients or their family caregivers were contacted weekly in the first month and twice a month in the second and third month. Data were collected by the treatment adherence questionnaire and were analyzed using independent sample t-test, Fisher exact test, Chi-square and repeated measures ANOVA by the SPSS software version 16.

The two-way repeated measures analysis of variance showed a significant difference in the mean scores of treatment adherence over time (P<0.001) and in the intervention and control groups (P<0.001).

According to the findings, it is recommended that self-management-based discharge plan be employed in an integrated manner for patients with heart failure in medical wards.