Self-care behaviors and related factors in cardiovascular patients: A cross-sectional study

This study was conducted to investigate self-care behaviors and related factors in cardiovascular patients. This cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the self-care behaviors of patients with cardiovascular diseases in the heart center of Mazandaran province in ۲۰۱۵. The data collection tool was a two-part questionnaire. The first part of the questionnaire was demographic information (age, sex, level of education, duration of hospitalization, occupation, disease diagnosis, hospitalization department, and marital status). The second part included a ۱۲-question European Heart Failure Self Care Behavior questionnaire, each item of which is graded from ۱ to ۵ based on a Likert scale. A total of ۲۶۸ cardiovascular patients participated in this study. The mean age of patients was ۵۸.۳۷ (SD=۱۱.۹۵). Among the participants, ۵۲.۶۱% were male, ۸۶.۱۹% were married, and ۶۵.۶۷% were literate. Hypertension was present in ۵۲.۶۱% of them and the average duration of cardiovascular disease in them was ۵.۱۰ (SD=۴.۳۹). The mean of self-care was ۲۹.۰۰ (SD=۶.۷۶). ۱۴۱ people (۵۲.۶۱%) had good self-care behaviors, ۱۲۱ people (۴۵.۱۵%) had moderate self-care behaviors, and ۶ people (۲.۲۴%) had poor self-care behaviors. In the context of the relationship between demographic variables and self-care behaviors, no statistically significant relationship was observed (P>۰.۰۵). The most self-care behaviors were related to going to the doctor or health centers in case of shortness of breath, taking medicines as recommended by the doctor, allocating enough time to rest, and the least self-care behaviors were related to regular exercise, influenza vaccine injection, and easy handling in case of shortness of breath. There-fore, teaching patients about the importance and how to perform self-care behaviors is very effective in promoting these behaviors and as a result, reducing mortality and hospitalization costs, and nurses play an important role in teaching these behaviors.