Perceived control: a construct to guide patient education.

Background: Educational needs for patients who are hospitalized with cardiovascular health issues are often underestimated by those caring for them. Perceived control is a construct that has been employed to guide understanding these needs.

Purpose: The purpose of this exploratory study was to expose cardiac nurses to the construct of perceived control during an annual cardiac education day in February 2009, and evaluated whether the nurses find perceived control constructive in their current practice. The exploratory study also evaluated whether the nurses planned to alter their approach to patient teaching to incorporate perceived control based on the information contained in the presentation.

Method: Data were collected from registered nurses (n=16) employed in a tertiary cardiac intervention unit, who attended an annual cardiac education day in February 2009. The nurses completed a one-time cross-sectional survey, created de novo, which explored their beliefs around perceived control and patient education.

Findings: The survey revealed that the nurses generally agreed that perceived control had the potential to positively impact patient teaching. This was despite the nurses' lack of previous knowledge about perceived control. Younger nurses tended to find that perceived control had an impact on patient adherence more than older nurses, although this result was not statistically significant. Younger and less experienced nurses were also more open to theory and research underpinning patient education.

Conclusion: Further study is required with a larger sample size and validated measurement tool.