Self-care behaviors of school-age children with heart disease.
OBJECTIVE
This cross-sectional study was conducted to identify the level of self-care behaviors of school-age children with heart disease. Orem's self-care theory was used as the conceptual framework.


METHODS
A purposive sampling method was used to select 82 (age 6-12 years old) school-age children with heart disease admitted at least once (within a year) and attending the outpatient department of three hospitals in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, China. The Medical Record Form, Demographic Form, and Self-care Behaviors of School-age Children with Heart Diseases Questionnaire (SBSCHDQ) were used to collect data.


RESULTS
Findings were: (1) The majority of the school-age children with heart disease had moderate levels of self-care behaviors. (2) The school-age children with heart disease whose heart functions are in Class I had a high level of self-care behaviors, and the school-age children whose heart functions are in Classes II and III had a moderate level of self-care behaviors. Moreover, the participants whose heart functions are in Class III had the lowest score of self-care behaviors.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings of this study provide useful information for nurses to understand self-care behaviors of school-age children with heart disease. The findings also assist nurses to perform nursing interventions and provide proper discharge plans to this population.
Nursing Department, Shengjing Hospital affiliated to China Medical University, Shen Yang, LiaoNing, People's Republic of China.
Ling
L
Fan
D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002681:China; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006266:Health Education; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000451:nursing / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016487:Parenting; D012648:Self Care; D012944:Social Support