Abstract
BackgroundHeart failure (HF) significantly impacts on the daily lives of patients and their carers. In Western society HF education programs have increased patient and carer knowledge and improved health-related quality of life. However, there is a paucity of such evidence in Asia. For example, to date no studies have been conducted in Thailand to investigate the potential benefits of a family-based education program on the health outcomes of HF patients and carers.MethodsThis randomised controlled trial will evaluate the effectiveness of an education program on knowledge, self-care and health-related quality of life of Thai HF patients and their carers. Assessments will be conducted at baseline, three and six months. Participants will be assigned by independent random allocation to an intervention (family-based education plus usual care) or a control (usual care) group. Analyses will be conducted on an intention-to-treat basis.DiscussionThis trial will be the first to evaluate the effectiveness of family-based education for HF patients and carers residing in rural Thailand. It attempts to advance understanding of family-based HF education and address the gap in service provision.Trial registrationThai Clinical Trial Registry TCTR20140506003
Highlights
Heart failure (HF) significantly impacts on the daily lives of patients and their carers
Summary of outcome measure Knowledge The Dutch Heart Failure Knowledge Scale (DHFKS) [63] is a self-report questionnaire consisting of 15 multiple choice items related to: HF in general (4 items), HF treatment (6 items related to diet, fluid restrictions and activity), symptoms and symptom recognition (5 items)
The scale has been shown to be sensitive in differentiating between patients who had and who had not received education and counselling (p < .01) and has been widely used in clinical settings to evaluate patients’ HF knowledge [22,64,65]
Summary
Heart failure (HF) significantly impacts on the daily lives of patients and their carers. In Western society HF education programs have increased patient and carer knowledge and improved health-related quality of life. To date no studies have been conducted in Thailand to investigate the potential benefits of a family-based education program on the health outcomes of HF patients and carers. Over 23 million people worldwide suffer from heart failure (HF) [1]. One way to redress the burden of HF is through implementation of multidisciplinary chronic disease models of care that have been shown to yield significant benefits, compared with usual care, in reducing readmissions and associated costs and improving patient quality of life [5].
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