Effect of Telephone Counseling on Self-Efficacy in Self-Care Behaviors of Patients with COVID-19

Promoting self-efficacy behaviors in self-care and people's true understanding of these behaviors are effective in controlling the disease, reducing the rate of transmission, and empowering patients. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of telephone counseling on self-efficacy in self-care behaviors of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

This experimental study was conducted on patients with COVID-19 who had been referred to Shahid Beheshti hospital in Kashan, Iran, from May 2020 to August 2020. Eligible patients were recruited through convenience sampling and then allocated into an experimental (n=30) and a control (n=30) group using block randomization. In the experimental group, patients were trained through telephone counseling one, five, and 10 days after discharge. The control group received the usual training in the hospital. Data were gathered using a self-care questionnaire at different time intervals. The collected data were analyzed with SPSS software (version 11.5) using the Chi-square, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and t-test. The significance level was set at 0.05.

The mean score of self-care at time of discharge and two and four weeks later were 47.86±6.84, 62.23±5.24 and 78.46±3.38, respectively. There was a significant difference in self-efficacy scores between the study groups at time of discharge (P=0.29). In addition, there was a significant difference in self-efficacy scores two weeks (P=0.01) and four weeks (P=0.001) after discharge from the hospital. The self-efficacy score in the experimental group increased significantly over time. Furthermore, group and time had significant effects on the self-efficacy score (P<0.05) two weeks (P=0.01) and four weeks (P=0.001) after discharge from the hospital between two groups.

Telenursing could improve COVID-19 patients' self-efficacy in self-care. Therefore, it is recommended to use telenursing in the treatment protocol of COVID-19 patients for improving self-care.