Abstract
Objective: to identify the relationship between self-care measures and the social and clinical conditions of patients with heart failure. Methods: a cross-sectional study with 100 patients with heart failure, in outpatient follow-up. To assess self-care, the European Heart Failure Self-care Behavior Scale was used. Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied. Results: the self-care score presented an average of 35.17 ± 7.87, with a variation of 15 to 54 points. A lower average was found in the self-care score for female patients, with a significant difference (p <0.009). The recognition of the presence of lower limb edema, the daily monitoring of body weight and the regular practice of physical activity were presented as self-care measures with greater disagreement among the investigated participants. Conclusion: a better relationship was found between the self-care measures and the female sex.
Highlights
Heart failure is a complex chronic, systemic disease, considered the final route of most heart diseases
The present investigation has raised the following question: what is the relationship between self-care measures adopted by patients with heart failure and their social and clinical conditions? The aim of this study was to identify self-care measures and their relationship to the social and clinical conditions of patients with heart failure
It was verified that the majority were in functional classes I and II (48.0% and 45.0%, respectively), according to New York Heart Association (NYHA) criteria; 83.0% of the interviewees did not smoke, 90.0% did not practice regular physical activity and 86.0% did not perform nutritional monitoring
Summary
Heart failure is a complex chronic, systemic disease, considered the final route of most heart diseases. Great advances have occurred in the clinical and therapeutic management of the disease, there is a great challenge for health teams involved in the care of the person with heart failure, the maintenance of clinical stability by the patients, in view of the changes necessary to be incorporated in the practice of activities of daily living, focusing on the preservation of functional capacity and quality of life[3]. In this sense, self-care actions become essential to minimize advances in cardiac remodeling, as well to avoid acute decompensation that contributes to unfavorable clinical outcomes. Self-care consists in the practice of activities that individuals perform in their benefit for themselves in the maintenance of life, health and well-being[4]
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