Journal of

Backgrounds and Aim: Self-care behaviors are an important aspect of Heart Failure (HF), management, Educating self-care behaviors to HF patients have to be a part of routine management of HF in hospitals and health care Centers. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of an educational intervention on self-care behaviors and its perceived benefits and barriers in patients with HF in Tehran.

Materials and Methods: This is was an interventional study. A Simple sampling was conducted on 180 outpatients (90 intervention group and 90 control group) with HF referring to Shaheed Rajaee Heart Hospital in Tehran to participate in this study. Before and 2 months after implementing the educational program through group discussion, face to face interview, educational movies and pamphlets, a self-prepared questionnaire was completed by the participants. Validity and reliability of the scales were approved. SPSS software was used for the purpose of data entry, manipulation, and analysis.

Results: After implementing the educational program, patients' self-care (74.5%) and perceived benefits (19.35%) were significantly increased (P<0.0001) and their perceived barriers (27.76%) were significantly decreased (P<0.0001). After intervention there was no significant difference in these variables in control group.

Discussion and Conclusion: In order to design effective educational programs, healthcare professionals and nurses should better understand self-care behaviors in HF patients and their determinants and develop educational interventions. Promoting perceived benefits and barriers of these behaviors are priorities of the program. Healthcare professionals and nurses applying such educational programs can have a more effective role in promoting self-care behaviors and consequently quality of life of HF patients.

Background and Aim: Cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of death and disabilities in the world. The purpose of the present study is to determine the perceived barriers and benefits of adopting health-promoting behaviors among individuals at risk of cardiovascular diseases referring to TUMS Teaching Hospitals in 2011.

Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study in which 325 patients at risk of cardiovascular diseases were randomly selected. The data were collected using a self-made questionnaire having three parts: 14 items for demographic and health-related variables, 12 items for perceived barriers, and another 12 items for benefits. For data analysis, SPSS 18 was used.

Results: The mean age of patients was 53.56±11.27 about 47.7% of patients(n=155) were female and 52.3% (n=170) were male. There was a meaningful relationship between the mean of perceived benefits on the one hand and occupation, physical activity, type and frequency of physical activity, smoking and awareness of cardiovascular diseases on the other(p0.001). Moreover, the mean of perceived barriers showed a meaningful relationship with occupation, smoking and awareness of cardiovascular diseases(p0.05).

Conclusion: The findings of the present study revealed that demographic and health-related variables could affect the perception of barriers and benefits of adopting certain behaviors for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, using interventional and educational approaches appropriate for target group features can help us take effective steps towards health promotion.