Self-care and quality of life in Heart Failure (HF)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A questionnaire survey of the effects of self-care on the Quality of Life of patients with Heart Failure and their family caregiver.
IRAS ID
165845
Contact name
Robert Thomson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Stirling
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 0 months, days
Research summary
Background: Heart Failure (HF) is a complex, progressive syndrome and is recognised as being disabling and deadly. Such disabling features (breathlessness, fatigue and lower leg swelling) impact significantly on patients’ quality of life, thus affecting their ability to self-care. The goal in caring for HF patients is to promote self-management and to avoid admission to hospital for as long as possible.
Caregivers are pivotal in supporting this, but often their own health is affected through the burden of being a carer. With this in mind, and the interdependence of the relationship, it is essential to examine self-care, quality of life and caregiver burden from a dyadic perspective. To date the literature has been limited, in that it has only compared health outcomes for patients as a group and caregivers as a group. No know studies in Scotland have looked at dyadic relationships in CHF.
Aims: To explore the effects of self-care on quality of life of patients with HF and their family caregivers; to examine whether family caregivers’ contribution to patient self-care contributes to caregiver burden.
Methods: It is anticipated that 50-70 patient-caregiver pairs (dyads) will be recruited. Data collection will take place following hospital discharge (time point one) and again at 6 months (time point 2). The perceived health and well being of the patients and their family caregivers will be assessed using the Short-Form 12 Health Survey. Patient specific symptoms and Quality of Life will be assessed using the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHFQ) and an adapted version used for their family caregivers. In addition, patients’ self-care will be measured quantitatively using the Self-Care of Heart Failure Index and also the Caregiver Contribution of Self-Care of Heart Failure. In order to measure family caregiver burden further, the Zarit Burden Caregiver scale will be used. Longitudinal data on self-care and quality of life will be analysed using multi-level modelling (The Actor Partner
Interdependence Model) with distinguishable dyads, and the factors that influence family caregiver burden will be examined using multiple linear regression.REC name
London - Surrey Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/LO/1104
Date of REC Opinion
15 Jun 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion