Department of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
Department of Gastroenterology, Herlev and Gentofte University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark.
PLoS One. 2019 Jun 4;14(6):e0217970. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0217970. eCollection 2019.
Social support, family functioning and family health are essential elements in the treatment of heart failure, yet most heart failure studies focus on the pharmacological interventions. This study aimed to examine whether perceived social support from nurses is associated with better family functioning of patients with heart failure and their nearest relatives and to examine whether family health mediates this relationship.
A sample of 312 patients with heart failure and 312 of their nearest relatives were included in the study. The Family Functioning, Health and Social Support questionnaire was used to collect the data. Dyadic data were analysed by the Actor-Partner Interdependence Mediation Model with distinguishable dyads using structural equation modelling. Patients and nearest relatives who perceived more social support had a higher level of family health and functioned better within the family. One partner effect was found, indicating that the higher the level of family health of the nearest relative, the better the family functioning of the patient (p <0.001). Family health partially (in the patient) and completely (in the nearest relative) mediated the association between social support and family functioning.
This study indicated that patients with heart failure and their nearest relatives who perceived more social support from nurses were more likely to have high level of family health and function better within the family. The interdependent relationships found in our study highlight a dyadic and family-oriented approach to improve family functioning in patients with heart failure.
社会支持、家庭功能和家庭健康是心力衰竭治疗的重要因素，但大多数心力衰竭研究都集中在药物干预上。本研究旨在探讨护士感知到的社会支持是否与心力衰竭患者及其最近亲属的家庭功能改善有关，并探讨家庭健康是否在其中起中介作用。
本研究纳入了 312 名心力衰竭患者及其 312 名最近亲属。使用家庭功能、健康和社会支持问卷收集数据。使用结构方程模型，通过可区分的对偶数据对 Actor-Partner 相互依存中介模型进行分析。感知到更多社会支持的患者和最近亲属具有更高的家庭健康水平和更好的家庭功能。发现了一个伙伴效应，表明最近亲属的家庭健康水平越高，患者的家庭功能越好（p<0.001）。家庭健康部分（在患者中）和完全（在最近亲属中）中介了社会支持与家庭功能之间的关系。
本研究表明，感知到护士更多社会支持的心力衰竭患者及其最近亲属更有可能具有较高的家庭健康水平和更好的家庭功能。我们研究中发现的相互依存关系强调了一种对偶和以家庭为导向的方法，以改善心力衰竭患者的家庭功能。
