Predicting depressive symptoms and self-care in patients with heart failure.

OBJECTIVE To examine relationships among heart failure (HF) physical symptoms, social support, social problem-solving, depressive symptoms, and self-care behaviors in outpatients with HF. METHODS Cross-sectional data were collected from 201 outpatients. Structural equation modeling was used in this preliminary analysis to examine the relationships among the study variables. RESULTS HF physical symptoms and social support were predictors of depressive symptoms and self-care behaviors. Social problem-solving also predicted self-care behaviors. Social support mediated the relationship between HF physical symptoms and depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS Social support may influence depressive symptoms and self-care behaviors, whereas social problem-solving may impact self-care behaviors. Future research should examine causality and sub-components of social problem-solving on these outcome variables.