BACKGROUND For people with chronic heart failure, self-monitoring has been linked with improved body awareness and better communication with health professionals. Cognitive theory and the concept of somatic awareness help explain self-monitoring behaviors. This study compares the clinical and hospital outcomes of heart failure patients who are using and not using a diary to record weight, vital...

BACKGROUND Quality of life (QOL) is commonly measured in asthma clinical trials by a questionnaire given before and after treatment. A structured asthma QOL daily diary provides more restricted information but on a daily basis. The validity and use of such a QOL diary was examined in a clinical trial in which two asthma treatments were compared. METHODS The effects of low dose inhaled steroid...

Barrier contraceptive trials and disease intervention studies often utilize coital diaries to measure sexual exposures: dates and frequency of intercourse, product use, additional or alternative contraceptive use, and menstrual bleeding. The validity of these self-reported data is a matter of debate, but if used, better diary designs are sought. We studied 3 different coital diaries, plus a pho...