Red Cross College of Nursing, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 06974, Korea.
Medical director of Cardio-cerebrovascular Center, Good Morning Hospital, Pyeongtaek 17874, Korea.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018 Nov 6;15(11):2474. doi: 10.3390/ijerph15112474.
Heart failure (HF) is a chronic condition requiring continuous self-care. Health literacy is increasingly recognized as a key factor of self-care behaviors in patients with chronic diseases. Recently, frailty in chronic diseases has also been associated with self-care behaviors. However, relationships among health literacy, frailty, and self-care in the HF population are not well understood. Therefore, this cross-sectional study aimed to identify the impact of health literacy and frailty on self-care behaviors in patients with HF. Data were collected from 281 adults attending a cardiovascular outpatient clinic in Korea. Health literacy, frailty, and self-care behaviors were measured using Korean-validated instruments. The mean scores of health literacy and self-care behaviors were 8.89 (±3.44) and 31.49 (±5.38), respectively. The prevalence of frailty was around 26.3%. Health literacy was significantly associated with frailty and self-care behaviors. In a hierarchical linear regression analysis, health literacy was a significant determinant of self-care behaviors after adjusting for confounding variables, but frailty was not. Educational level was also a significant predictor of self-care behaviors. Our main findings showed that health literacy can facilitate improvements in HF self-care behaviors. Healthcare professionals should assess patients' health literacy and educational backgrounds when designing self-management programs.
心力衰竭（HF）是一种需要持续自我护理的慢性疾病。健康素养越来越被认为是慢性病患者自我护理行为的关键因素。最近，慢性疾病中的衰弱也与自我护理行为有关。然而，HF 患者的健康素养、衰弱和自我护理之间的关系尚不清楚。因此，这项横断面研究旨在确定健康素养和衰弱对 HF 患者自我护理行为的影响。数据来自韩国一家心血管门诊的 281 名成年人。使用经过韩国验证的工具测量健康素养、衰弱和自我护理行为。健康素养和自我护理行为的平均得分为 8.89（±3.44）和 31.49（±5.38）。衰弱的患病率约为 26.3%。健康素养与衰弱和自我护理行为显著相关。在分层线性回归分析中，在校正混杂变量后，健康素养是自我护理行为的重要决定因素，但衰弱不是。教育水平也是自我护理行为的重要预测因素。我们的主要发现表明，健康素养可以促进 HF 自我护理行为的改善。医疗保健专业人员在设计自我管理计划时，应评估患者的健康素养和教育背景。
