Heart failure self care refers to the practices in which geriatric patients with heart
failure engage in their own care to maintain their own health, and their decisions about
managing signs or symptoms. Objective: The study was conducted to determine the effect of
self-care interventions on quality of life (QOL) of older adults with heart failure. Setting: The
study was carried out in the outpatient cardiac clinic in the health insurance hospital (Gamal
Abd El Naser), Alexandria, Egypt. Subjects: The study subjects included, thirty older adults
diagnosed with HF for at least 6 months. Tools: Seven measures were used in this study; the
socio-demographic and clinical data structured interview questionnaire, New York Heart
Association Functional Classification (NYHA), Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE)
Scale, Geriatric Depression Scale-Short Form (GDS-SF), Minnesota living with heart failure
questionnaire(MLHFQ), European Heart Failure Self-Care Behavior Scale (EHFSCBS), and
Dutch Heart Failure Knowledge Scale (DHFKS). Results: There are significant
improvements in both quality of life and self care practice and knowledge after the
implementation of the interventions which decreased gradually 6 weeks and 12 weeks later.
However, they still better than before the interventions. Conclusion: Implementation of the
self-care interventions proved to be effective in improving self-care knowledge, self-care
practices and health related QOL for the majority of the study older adults.
Recommendations: Preparation of an instructional booklet to include the self care
interventions for older adults with heart failure. Further researches are needed such as:
Effectiveness of nursing intervention strategies on the QOL of older adults with HF.