Self-care Problems and Management Strategies Experienced by Rural Patient/Caregiver Dyads Living With Heart Failure:...

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Gerontology
• Rural Health

Background:

• Rural patients with heart failure (HF) experience higher mortality and hospitalization rates than urban counterparts.
• Informal caregivers are crucial for HF self-care, yet challenges faced by rural patient/caregiver dyads are understudied.
• Limited data exists on the specific problems encountered by rural dyads in managing HF at home and their management strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and describe the self-care problems experienced by rural patient/caregiver dyads living with HF in a home setting.
• To explore how these identified HF self-care problems are managed by rural dyads.
• To understand the contributing factors to HF self-care management within rural dyads.

Main Methods:

• Descriptive qualitative design utilizing individual, semistructured telephone interviews.
• Data collected concurrently with analysis until thematic saturation was achieved.
• Schematic content analysis applied to interview data from 11 rural patient/caregiver dyads.

Main Results:

• Four key themes emerged: HF self-care components, environmental factors (rural barriers, COVID-19), caregiver contributions (confidence, role), and dyadic contributors (relationship).
• Dyads reported diverse self-care issues, with relationship quality and mutuality influencing problem-solving and management strategy development.
• Average patient age was 65.3 years, and average caregiver age was 62 years.

Conclusions:

• Findings highlight the complex self-care problems faced by rural HF dyads and the integral role of both members in management.
• The identified themes underscore the need for culturally sensitive interventions specifically designed for rural patient/caregiver dyads with HF.
• Dyadic relationship dynamics are critical for effective HF self-care management in rural settings.