The relationship between health literacy and perceived social support with self-care behaviors in patients with heart failure

Abstract Background Health literacy (HL) and perceived social support (PSS) are two independent variables associated with self-care behaviors (SCB) among patients with heart failure (HF). The study aimed to detemine the relationship between HL and PSS with SCB in patients with HF. Methods This cross-sectional study recruited its participants from Bouali and Razi hospitals in Qazvin, Iran, using a convenience sampling method. A total of 260 patients diagnosed with HF were enrolled in 2023. The Miller Self-Care Scale, the Health Literacy Questionnaire for Iranian Adults (HELIA), and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) were used. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent t-tests, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Pearson correlation coefficients, and hierarchical multiple regression analysis in SPSS version 26. Results The mean and standard deviation for SCB were 69.77 ± 14.93, for HL 96.17 ± 19.46, and for PSS 42.5 ± 10.34. While PSS was at a desirable level, SCB were found to be inadequate, and participants’ HL was not sufficiently high. The findings indicated significant associations between SCB and demographic variables. Correlation and regression analyses demonstrated that HL and PSS were significant predictors of SCB. A direct correlation was observed between SCB and PSS ( r = 0.56, p < 0.05); however, the correlation between SCB and HL was negative ( r = -0.69, p < 0.05). Conclusion PSS was positively associated with SCBs , whereas HL showed an inverse association with SCBs among patients with HF . These findings highlight the importance of strengthening family-centered support and developing tailored educational strategies. Further longitudinal and interventional studies are needed to clarify the underlying mechanisms of these associations.