Abstract:
The purposes of this descriptive correlational study were to examine the dietary control self-management among heart failure patients, Lower Northeast and to investigate the relationships between sex, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, depression, social support, and dietary control self-management. One hundred and thirty-two out-patients in adults, were recruited in the cardiology clinic at the province hospitals, by a multistage random sampling. Questionnaires were composed of demographic information, perceived severity, perceived benefits, and perceived barriers, depression assessment, social support, and dietary control self-management questionnaire. All questionnaires were tested for content validities by five panel of experts, and the reliabilities were .78, .86, .84, .77, .82, and .86, respectively. Descriptive statistics (e.g., frequency, percent, mean, and standard deviation), t-test, Biserial correlation coefficient, and Pearsons Product Moment Correlation were used to analyze data. The major findings were as follows: 1. More than half of subjects were males (57.58%). The mean age was 48.64 years (SD = 9.88). Mean scores of perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, depression, and social support were 3.65 (SD = 0.36), 3.54 (SD = 0.49), 2.20 (SD = 0.69), 0.31 (SD = 0.18), and 3.83 (SD = 0.69), respectively. 2. Mean score of dietary control self-management among heart failure patients was at a moderate level ([X-Bar] = 3.22, SD = 0.79). 3. There was no significant relationship between sex and dietary control self-management among heart failure patients at the level of .05 (r[subscript bis] = -.136, p < .121). Whereas, there was no significant relationship between gender and dietary control self-management among heart failure patients at the level of .05 (t = - 1.562, p < .121). 4. There were positively significant relationships between social support, perceived benefits, perceived severity, and dietary control among heart failure patients at the level of .05 (r = .525, .436, and .369, respectively). Whereas, there was negatively significant relationship between perceived barriers and dietary control self-management among heart failure patients at the level of .05 (r = -.389). 5. There were no significant relationships between depression and dietary control among heart failure patients at the level of .05 (r = -.024, p < .781).