title: Is Web-only self-care education sufficient for heart failure patients?
abstract: Heart failure patients require complex, long-term care. Research shows that self-care education improves health outcomes of these patients. This study reports the results of a randomized trial which compared the effects of two remote educational interventions on heart failure patients' knowledge of self-care practices. The first group reviewed self-care content on a Web site and had email access to a cardiac nurse. The second group had access to the Web site, and participated in four telephone-based sessions with the cardiac nurse. The test scores of both groups significantly improved following the intervention. However, the post-intervention test scores of the group that included telephone sessions were significantly higher than the scores for the group that had access to the Web site only. These results show a benefit to learning of a teleconferencing intervention that is over and above the benefit of an intervention based on Web information and email access alone.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, Canada.
authors.forename: Aleksandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jovicic
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chignell
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Sharon E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Straus
mesh_terms: D020375:Education, Distance; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D012648:Self Care; D013689:Telephone