title: Effects of a family support program on self-care behaviors in patients with congestive heart failure.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Heart failure is one of the chronic heart diseases and a debilitating condition of increased prevalence in the elderly. One of the important and non-pharmacological strategies for improving clinical outcomes in these patients is promotion of the self-care. Background and social environment in which a patient is trying to control his disease is an important factor in the self-care. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of family support intervention on the self-care behaviors in patients with heart failure.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was a randomized clinical trial conducted in university hospitals in Isfahan, Iran, in 2012. A total of 62 patients with heart failure were randomly assigned to experimental (n = 32) and control (n = 32) groups. Supportive intervention including three educational sessions with the delivery of educational booklet and follow-up by telephone was performed for caregivers of patients in the experimental group. Data were collected using the questionnaire of self-care behaviors, which was completed before and 1 month after the intervention in both the groups, and the questionnaires were analyzed using descriptive statistics and independent and paired t-tests.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results indicate that after the intervention, self-care behavior scores in the experimental group and control group were 47.2 and 28.4, respectively, and independent t-test revealed that the difference was statistically significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Family-focused supportive interventions can be used as an effective method for improving the self-care behaviors in patients with heart failure.
authors: Nursing and Midwifery Care Research Center, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Hezarjrb Ave., Isfahan, Iran.
authors: Mohsen
authors: M
authors: Shahriari
authors: Maryam
authors: M
authors: Ahmadi
authors: Sima
authors: S
authors: Babaee
authors: Tayebeh
authors: T
authors: Mehrabi
authors: Masoumeh
authors: M
authors: Sadeghi
keywords: Behavior; Iran; family support; heart failure; self-care
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