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Background & Aim: Efforts to improve self-care in patients with heart failure provide better treatment outcomes and longer life expectancy. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a caring program based on Pender model on health-promoting self-care behaviors in patients with heart failure.
Methods & Materials: In this single-blind randomized controlled trial, 48 patients with class II or III heart failure, referred to Golestan hospital in Tehran in 2017-2018, were recruited by the purposive sampling method and were randomly assigned to an intervention or a control group. For the intervention group, a caring program based on the Pender Health Promotion Model was conducted in six sessions. Data were collected by the Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile and the Self-Care Heart Failure Index, before and after the intervention. Descriptive and inferential statistical tests were used to analyze the data by the SPSS software version 16.
Results: The mean scores of the dimensions (except self-actualization) and the total score of health-promoting behaviors and self-care in the intervention group were higher than in the control group after the intervention (P<0.05). In addition, after the intervention, the mean scores of the dimensions and the total score of health-promoting behaviors and self-care significantly increased in the intervention group (P<0.05).
Conclusion: Implementing a caring program based on Pender model increases the self-care and health-promoting behaviors of patients with heart failure. Therefore, application of this caring program is recommended for this group of patients.
Clinical trial registry: IRCT20150801023446N17