Many congenital heart disease(CHD) patients experience complications or symptoms of heart failure; since the risk gradually increases with age, lifelong self-care is required. In this study, the factors affecting self-care in adult patients with CHD w...
Many congenital heart disease(CHD) patients experience complications or symptoms of heart failure; since the risk gradually increases with age, lifelong self-care is required. In this study, the factors affecting self-care in adult patients with CHD were analyzed, focusing on disease-related knowledge and social support, with the aim of providing basic data to aid the development of nursing interventions that can improve long-term prognosis and quality of life in patients with CHD. The subjects consisted of 208 patients receiving outpatient treatment for CHD at A general hospital located in Seoul. Data was collected between 16th August 2017 and 22nd March 2018.
As instruments, the Self-Care of Heart Failure Index V.6.2 (SCHFI V6.2) was used to measure self-care in patients with CHD, the Leuven Knowledge Questionnaire for Congenital Heart Disease (LKQCHD) was used to measure disease-related knowledge, and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) was used to measure social support. The collected data was processed using SPSS 21.0 and Amos 21.0 software. The data was described using percentiles, means, standard deviation, t-tests and ANOVA. Pearson’s correlation coefficients, multiple regression analysis were used to investigate the relationships between self-care, knowledge, and social support.
1. General characteristics of the subjects
The subjects’ mean age was 21.54 years. There were more males, at 61.1%, than females. The most frequent educational level was current university student or higher, at 57.2%. 67.3% of subjects reported ‘student’ as their occupation, 96.2% of subjects were unmarried. 65.9% of subjects reported ‘non-religious’ as their religious status, and 35.6% of subjects had a monthly household income of at least 4.5 million KRW.
2. Clinical characteristics of the subjects
When subjects were classified according to diagnosis, 46.6% of the subjects had a complex heart malformation ; 82.6% of subjects had experienced surgery, and 88.0% of subjects had experienced hospitalization. The percentage of subjects currently taking medication for cardiac disease was 43.7%, and the percentage of patients who reported experiencing symptoms of heart failure was 15.3%. The subjects’ mean LVEF was 62.25%, and the most common NYHA classification was Class I (85.6% of patients).
3. Self-care, disease related knowledge, and social support of the subjects
Subjects’ mean self-care score was 59.10±11.20. For disease-related knowledge, the mean score across all 31 items was 12.38±4.40, and the mean score for social support was 73.28±9.99.
4. Association of self-care, disease related knowledge, and social support with subjects’ characteristics
Subjects’ mean self-care varied significantly with monthly income (F=2.993, p=.032). On the other hand, self-care confidence, knowledge, and social support showed no statistically significant associations with subjects’general or clinical characteristics.
5. Relationships between self-care, disease related knowledge, and social support
Overall self-care showed a significantly positive relationship with knowledge (r=.187, p=.007). Social support showed significant associations with self-care maintenance(r=.184, p=.001), heart failure management(r=.230, p=.001), and self-care confidence(r=.258, p<.001).
6. Factors influencing self-care
Disease related knowledge(β=.159, p=.022) and social support(β=.314, p<.001) are significantly effect on self-care ability of congenital heart disease patients.
The results of our study demonstrated statistically significant correlations of the self-care with disease related knowledge and social support in patients with CHD. Therefore, in order to improve self-care in patients with CHD, it will be necessary to implement nursing interventions that include not only enhancing knowledge but also supportive communication and consultation with the aim of building self-care confidence and creating a more positive experience of disease.