Self-care behaviors and related factors in patients with heart failure reffering to ‎medical & educational center of heart in Rasht.‎

Introduction: Heart failure is considered to be one of the most common chronic diseases in the ‎world which puts high expenses on health care systems. In order to control heart failure there are a ‎lot of ways self care is one of them.  ‎ Objective: This survey has been conducted with the aim of studying self-care behaviors and related ‎factors in patients with CHF.  ‎ Methods: This cross sectional study assessed the associations between self- care behaviors and ‎demographic variables in ‎‏33‏‎ patients who referred to medical & educational center of heart in Rasht ‎city. Data collection instrument included questionnaire covering demographic characteristics and ‎European questionnaire of EHFSCB. Data collected were analyzed using one – way ANOVA, ‎Kruskal Wallis and independent t- tests in SPSS (version ‎‏15‏‎).‎  Results: The mean age of individuals was ‎‏69.9‏‎ ‎‏±‏‎ ‎‏19.9‏‎, of which ‎‏%60.6‏‎ were woman, ‎‏%57.6‏‎ were ‎married, ‎‏%57.6‏‎ were illiterate, ‎‏%66.7‏‎ had poor financial conditions and ‎‏%90.9‏‎ suffered from other ‎chronic diseases that had the highest percentages such as hypertension ‎‏%25‏‎, diabetes ‎‏%18.7‏‎. Also ‎the mean of disease duration was ‎‏2.5‏‎ ‎‏± 1.6‏‎ month. The mean of self-care score was ‎‏37.9‏‎ ‎‏± 5.4‏‎ and ‎only ‎‏%6.1‏‎ of individuals had good self-care. The best self-care behavior was related to taking drugs ‎according to doctor’s recommendation, going on low-salt diet & taking enough rest. The least self-‎care behavior taken was daily weighing, regular exercise and injecting flu vaccination. No ‎significant correlation was found between demographic variables and self-care behaviors .‎ Conclusion: Considering a low percent of individuals who had good self-care behavior, it is ‎recommended that more assessed and proper intervention be taken to confront these factors.‎