Evaluation of Quality of Life and Self-Care Among Individuals with Heart Failure

The objective of the research was to evaluate quality of life and self-care agency among individuals with heart failure. Materials and Methods. The study sample consisted of 61 patients who were diagnosed with heart failure that occurred at least six months before we started our research, had no communication problems, were over 18 years old and were selected by random sampling method. The data were collected by the researcher using a face-to-face interview technique, a descriptive information form, the Short Form-36 Quality of Life Scale, and the Self-Care Agency Scale. In the analysis of the data, numbers, percentiles, means, the Kruskal-Wallis test, the Mann-Whitney U test, and the Pearson correlation coefficient were used. Results. The patients' average self-care agency score was 71.75 +/- 33.66. The patients received the highest score on the subscale of bodily pain (46.76 +/- 31.02) and the lowest score on the subscale of role limitations due to physical health problems (19.26 +/- 32.40). The patients' age and disease duration were found to affect their self-care. Some quality-of-life subscales were affected by the educational, occupational and socioeconomic status, age, disease duration. Conclusions. Patients' quality of life was found to be low, and the level of self-care agency was found to be moderate. Patients' quality of life can be improved by increasing the frequency of self-care trainings given to patients.