Background: Heart failure (HF) is a complex, costly and debilitating chronic health condition. Symptom recognition and self-care are crucial components of heart failure management; however, many HF patients struggle to perform these behaviors and skills at a proficient level. A transitional care program in the Southwest provides services to heart failure patients. A primary program aim is to help facilitate enhanced symptom recognition and self-care among heart failure patients. This project focuses on the assessment of the impact of such a transitional care program on HF patients' ability to perform symptom recognition and self-care. Methods: Demographic questionnaires were distributed to collect socioeconomic data and clinical characteristics of participants. A pre and post SCHFI survey was completed by participants, and analysis of data performed using a paired t-test. Results: The 15 participants were primarily Hispanic, elderly, and male. The majority of participants reported an annual income less than $10,000, lived in close proximity to the transitional care clinic, reported living with family and/or friends, and had at least one additional comorbidity. There was improvement in self-care maintenance scores following the initial transitional care encounter; however, participants did not achieve self-care adequacy in this domain. Participants also did not achieve self-care adequacy in self-management. Self-confidence scores improved to reach adequacy following the initial transitional care encounter; however, results were not statistically significant. Conclusion: With the complexities of HF self-management, it is not alarming that these patients have continued to struggle with symptom recognition and self-care. Recommendations are made for future research and interventions.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/622989 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Hull, Carolyn M., Hull, Carolyn M. |
| Contributors | Martin-Plank, Lori, Martin-Plank, Lori, Wiley, Luz M., Pacheco, Christy |
| Publisher | The University of Arizona. |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text, Electronic Dissertation |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. |
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