Factors affecting self-care in heart failure patients: a cross-sectional study

Heart failure is a cardiovascular disease with a high incidence in the world and Indonesia as well. This disease must get serious attention because it results in high mortality rates and has a broad and long-term impact on patients with heart failure. The high recurrence rate, rehospitalization, and patients' poor quality of life are influenced, one of them, by the self-care behavior of patients, considering that heart failure is a progressive and chronic disease. In practice, implementation of self-care behaviors in people living with heart failure is poor. This study analyzes the factors influencing self-care for heart failure patients.

This is a cross-sectional study that involved 100 heart failure patients taken from August to October 2020. Self-care was measured using the Self-Care of Heart Failure Index (SCHFI) questionnaire. The chi-square statistical test determines the relationship between the factors that influence self-care.

The results showed that there was a significant relationship between education (p 0.00), marital status (p 0.005), occupation (p 0.00), NYHA class (p 0.00), and patient age (p 0.01) with self-care maintenance. There was no relationship between gender (p 0.30), comorbidity (p 0.21), and duration of heart failure (p 0.11).

Education, marital status, occupation, NYHA class, and age significantly influence self-care in heart failure patients, while gender, comorbidity, and disease duration do not. Targeted interventions are needed to improve self-care and reduce rehospitalization.