Date of Award

2015

Document Type

Capstone

Degree Name

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

Committee Chair

Sharon Starr

Abstract

The purpose of this Capstone Project study was to answer the question: Does self-care education improve knowledge and decrease 30 day readmission rates in a class of heart failure patients that are at high risk for exacerbation? The study used a randomized control design with a pre-test/post-test. A convenience sample of 50 African Americans diagnosed with heart failure were entered; control group (n=25) and experimental group (n=25). Both groups received the Heart failure Pre/Post Test developed by the researcher during the initial interview and four weeks post discharge. The experimental group received a phone call weekly over the four weeks with self-care education aimed at self-care activities that are evidenced based to improve or support heart failure conditions. The data was analyzed for descriptive statistics and correlation statistics using chi-square test or Fisher's exact test, and Wilcoxon rank sum test. Results indicated the intervention of self-care educational phone calls was successful with improving knowledge in the class of heart failure patients that are at high risk for exacerbation, while the readmission rates were not statistically significant. Keywords: heart failure, heart disease, race disparity, Dorothy Orem, self-care, self-management, self-care education, self-care interventions, education interventions, heart failure education, African American health, African American with heart failure, self-care deficit, and heart failure with cultural implications.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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