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Extent of heart failure self-care as an endpoint to patient education: a literature review

journal contribution
posted on 2007-04-04, 00:00 authored by J Cameron, Linda Worrall-Carter, Andrea DriscollAndrea Driscoll, G New, S Stewart
Background: In western countries the number of chronic heart failure (CHF) management programs has escalated in recent times. One key component of them is to teach self-care behaviours that enable affected individuals to monitor themselves and engage in lifestyles that improve their health status.
Aim: The aim of this article is to describe CHF self-care management and to review the literature which examines the effectiveness of patient education on patients’ performance of self-care behaviours.
Design/method: bibliographical databases were searched for papers published in English between 1982 to 2006. The search used the key words: heart failure, education, self-care and measures. Only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were selected.
Results: Ten randomized controlled trials were selected that used education as an intervention and, in total, 1064 patients with CHF participated in these studies. The studies were heterogenous as to the sample population, the health outcomes measured, the education interventions, the expertise of the educator, and the length of time that was spent on teaching patients. No consistent patterns of implementation and specific evaluation of its impact were found, although three respective groups of investigators reported signifi cant differences in recurrent hospitalisation rates and mortality rates which were relative to usual care.
Conclusions: Teaching patients appropriate CHF self-care behaviours can significantly improve their health outcomes. Improvements in self-care were demonstrated in seven studies but only three had used validated instruments to measure such changes. This suggests that no firm conclusions can be drawn about changes in self-care practices.

History

Journal

British journal of cardiac nursing

Volume

2

Issue

4

Pagination

188 - 197

Publisher

MA Healthcare

Location

London, England

ISSN

1749-6403

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2007, MA Healthcare

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