Heart failure self care behaviour in the West of Scotland: a descriptive study

Self-care, encompassing self-monitoring and self-management, has been widely promoted within heart failure management programmes to improve patient outcomes and reduce hospital admissions. Limited quantitative evidence describing heart failure self-care in the Scottish context led to the descriptive study reported here. The European Heart Failure Self-care Behaviour Scale was used to measure levels of self-reported self-care in a convenience sample of 39 chronic heart failure patients receiving care from a nurse-led service in the West of Scotland. The total self-care score ranged from 12 to 44 with a mean score of 25.59 from a possible range of 12 to 60; comparing favourably with similar international studies. The items ‘I exercise regularly’; ‘I weigh myself every day’ and ‘I eat a low salt diet’ had the lowest levels of agreement. While further research is warranted, we recommend that practitioners direct attention towards these self-care deficits within the identified heart failure population.