Evaluation of the Effect of Perceived Social Support on Promoting Self-Care Behaviors of Heart Failure Patients Referred to The Cardiovascular Research Center of Isfahan.
BACKGROUND
Self-care is one of the most important aspects of treatment in patients with heart failure and ranks among the most important coping strategies against the events and stresses of life. Perceived social support plays an important role in performing self-care behaviors in these patients.


OBJECTIVE
This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of perceived social support on promoting self-care behaviors among heart failure patients.


METHODS
This educational intervention with a randomized control group was performed on 64 heart failure patients referred to The Cardiovascular Research Center of Isfahan. The study population was divided randomly into two groups of intervention and control. The indicators of self-care behavior and perceived social support (before, immediately after, and 2 months after the intervention) were completed by the two groups. The intervention group received educational interventions in 120-minute sessions once a week for 4 weeks. SPSS software (version 20) was used for data analysis in addition to methods of descriptive and inferential statistics.


RESULTS
Based on the obtained results, educational intervention was effective in the improvement of perceived social support among our heart failure patients. The results also showed that an increase in perceived social support significantly promoted self-care behaviors in the case group after the intervention compared with the control group (P < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
Perceived social support played an important role in improving the performance of self-care behaviors in our heart failure patients. Given the strengths of the present study, these findings can be considered in future research in this domain.
Department of Health Education and Promotion, Faculty of Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, IR Iran.
Gholam Hassan
GH
Khaledi
Department of Health Education and Promotion, Faculty of Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, IR Iran.
Firoozeh
F
Mostafavi
Cardiovascular Research Center of Isfahan, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, IR Iran.
Ahmad Ali
AA
Eslami
Department of Health Education and Promotion, Faculty of Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, IR Iran.
Hamidreza
H
Rooh Afza
Department of Health Education and Promotion, Faculty of Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, IR Iran.
Firoozeh
F
Mostafavi
Department of Statistics and Epidemiology, Faculty of Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, IR Iran.
Hassanzadeh
H
Akbar
Heart Failure; Patients; Self Care; Social Support