Self‐management among Egyptian heart failure patients

The purpose of this study was to describe heart failure patients' abilities to manage their disease. A descriptive correlational design was used in this study. A convenient sample of 120 adult patients with heart failure was surveyed using Self-Management of Heart Failure tool; the New York Heart Association (NYHA) Functional Classification was used to measure functional status. The findings of this study showed that 60% of patients' age ranged from 50 to < 60 years. Men accounted for 66.7% of the patient population; 33.3% were women. Most participants were married. The study showed that recognizing a change in signs and symptoms was positively correlated with both implementing and evaluating treatment with statistical significance. In addition, the results showed the statistical significant differences between levels of patients' education and both implementing and evaluating treatment. Finally, statistically significant differences were found between functional status of patients and their ability to recognize change as well as evaluate treatment. Findings of this study highlight the need for using the Self-Management of Heart Failure tool in practice to direct the medical and nursing staff towards the specific problem area for each patient.