The influence of gender and race on heart failure self-care.

OBJECTIVES

To explore gender and racial differences in heart failure (HF) self-care processes and examine whether gender and race predict HF self-care.

METHODS

A secondary analysis of baseline data ( 107) from a longitudinal HF study (54.2% males; 56% non-Caucasians) was conducted. The self-care of heart failure index was used to measure self-care maintenance, management, and confidence. Descriptive statistics and univariate analyses examined gender and racial differences in HF self-care outcomes. Multiple linear regression examined whether gender and race predicted HF self-care maintenance, management, and confidence.

RESULTS

Univariate analyses indicated that Caucasians reported significantly better self-care maintenance ( = 0.042), while non-Caucasians reported significantly better self-care management ( = 0.003). Males had significantly higher self-care confidence scores versus women ( = 0.017). Multiple regression analysis indicated Caucasian race predicted significantly worse self-care management (β = -11.188;  = 0.006) versus non-Caucasian, while male gender predicted significantly higher self-care confidence scores (β = 7.592;  = 0.010) versus female gender. Gender nor race significantly predicted self-care maintenance.

DISCUSSION

Although gender and race may influence HF self-care, other factors may be more important. More research is needed to identify individual factors that contribute to HF self-care to improve education and intervention.