Key result
A systematic literature review and qualitative interviews suggested that patient education focused on symptom recognition, combined with reinforcements, led to better self-care behaviors.
Why the study?
Heart failure patients often struggle to recognize signs and symptoms, delaying care-seeking and impairing self-care management, whereas early detection could prevent hospitalizations.
Combining literature review and qualitative interviews provides a foundation for designing targeted educational interventions to improve symptom perception and self-care in heart failure patients.
Does not support practice change; hypothesis-generating for symptom-focused HF education and needs prospective trials.
BACKGROUND: Patients with heart failure often have difficulty recognizing signs and symptoms of the disease, which delays seeking help, and therefore interferes with patient engagement and self-care management. Early detection of these symptoms could lead to care-seeking and avoid hospitalizations. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to design a complex intervention through a systematic literature review and qualitative study. METHODS: Our design followed the Medical Research Council's recommendations. To design a complex intervention, we combined a systematic literature review on education, symptom recognition, and self-care management in patients with heart failure, and semi-structured interviews with cardiology healthcare providers and patients with heart failure admitted to a cardiology ward. RESULTS: The systematic literature review identified 582 studies published between 2005 and 2014, of which four were included in the final review. These suggested that patient education focused on symptom recognition, combined with reinforcements, led to better self-care behaviors. Additionally, content analysis of semi-structured interviews revealed three themes: health management, behavior management, and support received. CONCLUSIONS: Combining the findings of the literature review and the themes that emerged from the semi-structured interviews, we proposed the development and implementation of a complex intervention on symptom perception and fluid management.
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Sousa et al. (2021) studied Heart failure. Patient education focused on symptom recognition was evaluated on Self-care behaviors. A systematic literature review and qualitative interviews suggested that patient education focused on symptom recognition, combined with reinforcements, led to better self-care behaviors.
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