Factors Related to Self-Care Behaviors’ in Chronic Heart Failure Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study in Western Iran

Purpose Self-care is recognized as an important element in the comprehensive management of patients with heart failure. The study aimed to explore the correlations of self-care behaviors in chronic heart failure patients in Kermanshah, West Iran. Design Descriptive and analytical cross-sectional. Setting Hospital. Sample The research population included 597 (246 female and 351 male) patients with chronic heart failure visiting Imam Ali Cardiovascular Hospital in Kermanshah in 2022. Measures Demographic information, European Heart Failure Self-care Behavior Scale. Analysis Independent-sample t test, ANOVA, and Kruskal-Wallis in SPSS-24. The significance level was set at 5%. Results The participants’ age was 63.04 ± 14.1 years. The mean and standard deviation of the participants’ self-care behaviors was 2.91 ± 31.00, and only 20.60% of the patients reported engaging in satisfactory self-care behaviors. Self-care behaviors were significantly related to Income level, ethnicity, family history of background disease, history of co-morbidity, history of addiction, access to medical centers, and not with any other variables. Conclusion Based on the study’s results, most participants exhibited moderate self-care behaviors, suggesting that these patients may need preventive educational interventions to acquire the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for effective self-care behaviors. Therefore, it is essential to design and implement a health promotion educational intervention aimed at convincing these patients to make lifestyle changes and adhere to their dietary and medication regimens to improve self-care behaviors.