Descriptive pilot study on self-care and daily living activities in Italian patients with heart failure: What are the criticalities?

This study aims to describe the degree of self-care amongst Italian heart failure patients, and to describe the relationship between self-care and daily living activities.

Descriptive pilot study with a cross-sectional design, and a monocentric, convenience sampling between February and July 2016. The data were collected using the following questionnaires: Self-Care of Heart Failure Index (SCHFI), Barthel Index, and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL).

Enrolled patients had inadequate levels of self-care, but were mostly autonomous in their daily living activities. No significant differences emerged when stratifying self-care and daily living activities by sociodemographic characteristics or clinical conditions. Moreover, there were no significant relationships between self-care and daily living activities. 

Additional studies are needed to explain the findings. The authors suggest effectiveness studies during follow-ups to test which educational approach could positively affect the self-care levels of Italian heart failure patients. Those approaches should then be implemented in a way that is agreeable with the Italian organizational, educational, and professional context.