title: A health education booklet and telephone follow-ups can improve medication adherence, health-related quality of life, and psychological status of patients with heart failure.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Heart failure is an increasing public health problem globally. Interventions are imperative in managing the disease.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To examine the effectiveness of a health education booklet and telephone follow-ups on patients' medication adherence, health-related quality of life, and psychological status.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred and sixty heart failure patients were assigned to either the experimental group (health education booklet and telephone follow-ups) or the control group (usual care). An independent t-test and the generalized estimating equation (GEE) model were used to compare the differences in the study outcomes. The statistical tests were two-sided and a p value below 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The patients in the experimental group showed greater improvement throughout the study period compared with those in the control group regarding all the study outcomes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study provided clues for healthcare professionals to develop interventions while undertaking clinical work with limited resources in China.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, PR China. Electronic address: yumm0216@163.com.
authors.forename: Mingming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: The Nethersole School of Nursing, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong, PR China.
authors.forename: Sek Ying
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Chair
authors.affiliation: The Nethersole School of Nursing, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong, PR China.
authors.forename: Carmen W H
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.affiliation: The Nethersole School of Nursing, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong, PR China.
authors.forename: Kai Chow
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Choi
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055118:Medication Adherence; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010174:Pamphlets; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D017010:Reminder Systems; D013689:Telephone
keywords: Education; Heart failure; Interventional study; Telephone follow-up