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.
Fan
Ling
L
Nursing Department, Shengjing Hospital affiliated to China Medical University, Shen Yang, LiaoNing, People's Republic of China.
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