Selected Factors Related to Self-management on Dietary Control Among Heart Failure Patients in Lower Northeast Region

Abstract

The purposes of this descriptive correlational study were to examine the dietary control self-management among heart failure patients, Lower Northeast and to investigate the relationships between sex, perceived heart failure’s severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, depression, social support, and dietary control self-management. One hundred and thirty-two out-patients in adults, were recruited in the cardiology clinic at the province hospitals, by a multistage random sampling. Questionnaires were composed of demographic information, perceived heart failure’s severity, perceived benefits, and perceived barriers, depression assessment, social support, and dietary control self-management questionnaire. All questionnaires were tested for content validities by five panel of experts, and the reliabilities were .78, .86, .84, .77, .82, and .86, respectively. Descriptive statistics (e.g., frequency, percent, mean, and standard deviation), t-test, Biserial correlation coefficient, and Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation were used to analyze data. The major findings were as follows:

1. Mean score of self-management on dietary control among heart failure patients was at a moderate level ( = 38.64, SD = 9.45).

2. There were positively significant relationships between social support, perceived benefits, perceived heart failure’s severity on self-management and dietary control among heart failure patients at the level of .05 (r = .525, .436, and .369, respectively). Whereas, there was negatively significant relationship between perceived barriers and dietary control self-management among heart failure patients at the level of .05 (r = -.389). And there was no significant relationship between sex, depression and dietary control self-management among heart failure patients.