SELF-CARE BEHAVIOURS: A RESEARCH ON CASES OF HEART FAILURE

The aim of the study was to evaluate the self-care behaviors of patients with heart failure (HF) and associated factors. This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted with 151 HF patients. Data were collected using the “Patient Information Form”, which included the descriptive characteristics of the patients, and the “European Heart Failure Self-Care Behavior Scale (EHFScBS)” to assess self-care behaviors. Descriptive statistics, Student's t-test and ANOVA test were used in statistical evaluation. Bonferroni test was used for post-hoc analyses. It was found that the total EHFScBS score of the participants was 35.07±8.03 and 61.6% of the participants had inadequate self-care behaviors. It was determined that age, educational status, presence of additional disease and duration of diagnosis were significant determinants of self-care behaviors (p0.05). As a result of the study, it has been determined that the self-care behaviors of HF patients are at a moderate level, and the majority of them have inadequate self-care behaviors. Accordingly, it is thought that it would be beneficial to develop strategies to increase self-care skills in HF patients and to inform health professionals on this issue.