Development and Validation of Educational Telephone Messages for the Self-care of People With Heart Failure

Educational technologies provide an effective means of overcoming communication barriers and play a key role in promoting knowledge and self-care for people with heart failure (HF). This study aimed to describe the development and evaluate the content and appearance validity of educational telephone messages designed to support self-care in individuals with HF. The methodological study was conducted in 2 stages: (1) creation of telephone messages, including the design and development of the flashcards, and (2) content validation by 6 expert judges and appearance validation by 9 patients diagnosed with HF during outpatient follow-up. The evaluation was based on 3 criteria: language clarity, theoretical relevance, and practical relevance, using the Content Validity Index (CVI). Twenty-nine telephone messages were developed as educational flashcards and categorized into the following domains: weight control, diet, exercise, sexual activity, medications, mental health, sleep, vaccination, smoking and alcohol consumption, and signs and symptoms of clinical decompensation. Content validation achieved a CVI of 0.83 for language clarity and 1.0 for theoretical and practical relevance, respectively. Appearance validation indicated an excellent level of approval and agreement among the target audiences. Telephone messages in flashcard format demonstrated adequate evidence of content and appearance validity for supporting the self-care of individuals with HF.