[Heart failure in primary care: Attitudes, knowledge and self-care].

OBJECTIVE

To determine the attitudes, knowledge, and self-care practices in patients with heart failure (HF) in Primary Care, as well as to identify factors associated with better self-care.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional and multicentre study.

SETTING

Primary Care.

PARTICIPANTS

Subjects over 18 years old with HF diagnosis, attended in 10 Primary Health Care Centres in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona.

MAIN MEASUREMENTS

Self-care was measured using the European Heart Failure Self-Care Behaviour Scale. Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, tests on attitudes (Self-efficacy Managing Chronic Disease Scale), knowledge (Patient Knowledge Questionnaire), level of autonomy (Barthel), and anxiety and depression screening (Goldberg Test), were also gathered in an interview. A multivariate mixed model stratified by centre was used to analyse the adjusted association of covariates with self-care.

RESULTS

A total of 295 subjects (77.6%) agreed to participate, with a mean age of 75.6 years (SD: 11), 56.6% women, and 62% with no primary education. The mean self-care score was 28.65 (SD: 8.22), with 25% of patients scoring lower than 21 points. In the final stratified multivariate model (n=282; R conditional=0.3382), better self-care was associated with higher knowledge (coefficient, 95% confidence interval: -1.37; -1.85 to -0.90), and coronary heart disease diagnosis (-2.41; -4.36: -0.46).

CONCLUSION

Self-care was moderate. The correlation of better self-care with higher knowledge highlights the opportunity to implement strategies to improve self-care, which should consider the characteristics of heart failure patients attended in Primary Care.