Self-Management Behaviors Among Patients With Liver Cirrhosis in Shanghai, China: A Cross-Sectional Study

Effective self-management of liver cirrhosis requires medication adherence and lifestyle modifications. The purpose of this study was to investigate the self-management behaviors of liver cirrhosis patients and how their knowledge of cirrhosis, psychological status, and self-efficacy contributes to self-management practices in Shanghai, China. Subjects were recruited from the hepatology units in an infectious hospital in Shanghai, China. Self-administered questionnaires were collected and medical charts were reviewed by the research staff. A total of 134 subjects were enrolled from November 2016 to March 2017. The results indicate that the self-management behaviors mean score was 2.51 out of 4 and that depression, severity of cirrhosis, and self-efficacy significantly affected self-management behaviors and explained 22.9% of the total variance. The findings also indicate that psychological stress, disease severity, and self-efficacy affected self-management behaviors in liver cirrhosis patients. Interventions focusing on decreasing depression and enhancing self-efficacy according to disease severity should improve self-management behaviors in this population.