Document Type
Article
Abstract
Background: It is estimated that 5.7 million Americans are living with heart failure (HF) today. Despite the fact that HF is one of the most common reasons people aged 65 years and older are admitted into the hospital, few studies describe the self-care in this older adult population. Purpose: The purpose of the study was to review the current literature on self-care in this population to better understand the influence of selected factors on self-care and health outcomes. Methods: A literature search was completed and resulted in including 28 studies. Results: Multiple factors have been reported as barriers to self-care including depression and presence of peripheral arterial disease. Factors having a positive effect on self-care are male gender, number of cardiologist referrals, and self-efficacy. There were few studies that described the association between cognitive functioning and self-care. There is a lack of strong evidence to support the association between self-care and health outcomes such as readmission rate, but recent studies suggest that a 30-day readmission is not a valid predictor of health outcomes. Implications: The assessment of the psychological factors and health care resource utilization patterns that may influence self-care is recommended. More research that addresses the role of cognitive factors in influencing self-care is needed.
Disciplines
Cardiology | Geriatric Nursing | Geriatrics | Gerontology | Medicine and Health | Social Work
Recommended Citation
Attaallah S, Klymko K, Hopp FP. Self-Care among older adults with heart failure. Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine. 2016;2:1-10. doi: 10.1177/2333721416684013
Included in
Cardiology Commons, Geriatric Nursing Commons, Geriatrics Commons, Gerontology Commons, Medicine and Health Commons, Social Work Commons
Comments
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed (see Recommended Citation).