Caregiver contributions to general and specific self-care of patients affected by heart failure and other chronic conditions

Type of funding sources: Public grant(s) – National budget only. Main funding source(s): Centre of Excellence for Nursing Scholarship (CECRI), Rome, Italy.

Older adults with HF and other chronic conditions often need the support of informal caregivers in performing self-care. Caregiver contribution (CC) to patient’s self-care includes a series of recommendations (or acts to replace) made to the patient to keep their own health conditions stable and manage signs and symptoms of their chronic conditions. CC to general and specific patient self-care represents help that improves patient clinical outcomes and maintains the stability of chronic conditions. To date, no studies have investigated general and specific caregiver contributions to the self-care of patients with Heart Failure (HF) and other chronic conditions.

Investigate caregiver contribution to general and specific self-care in patients affected by HF and other chronic conditions.

Cross-sectional study. Data collection was conducted in community and outpatient settings, from April 2017 to October 2021. Caregivers of patients affected by HF and other chronic condition were enrolled if they were >18 years old and identified by the patient as the primary informal caregiver. Caregiver Contribution to Self-Care of Chronic Illness Inventory (CC-SC-CII) and Caregiver Contribution to Self-Care of Heart Failure Index (CC-SCHFI), were used for measuring generic and specific CC to self-care, respectively. Values ≥70 indicate adequate CC to general and specific self-care behaviors. Paired t-test was carried out to test differences in CC-SC-CII and CC-SCHFI scores.

This study enrolled 369 caregivers caring for HF patients and other chronic conditions. The sample was composed mainly of females (61.27%) with a mean age of 45.0 (±1.41) years, and that lived with their loved ones (55.28%). The two chronic conditions most frequently associated in patients with HF cared for by informal caregivers were hypertension (75%) and diabetes mellitus (70%). General CC to self-care maintenance, monitoring, and management were adequate with mean scores of 70.57 (±21.6), 81.47 (±21.85), and 72.98 (±20.61), respectively. Specific CC to self-care maintenance, monitoring, and management were inadequate with mean scores of 64.49 (±16.76), 54.08 (±26.71), and 65.24 (±17.25), respectively. CC-SC-CII scores were significantly (p<.0001) higher than CC-SCHFI scores.

Caregivers showed more difficulties in the contribution to specific HF self-care compared to general self-care behaviors. Knowing how caregivers contribute to self-care is important for clinicians to develop psychosocial interventions for improving CC to self-care in patients with HF and other chronic conditions.