Relationship Between Self-care and Physician-Patient Relations in Patients with Heart Failure

Background: This study aimed to determine the relationship between self-care and physician-patient relations in patients with Heart Failure (HF). This cross-sectional study was conducted on 200 patients with HF, referring to the outpatient clinics affiliated with Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Iran. Utilizing a systematic random sampling method, the patients were selected from those who had made intake appointments. The Physician-Patient Relationship Questionnaire and the European Heart Failure Self-Care Behavior scale (EHFScB scale) were used to collect the data. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficient, logistic regression, Student’s t-test, and one-way ANOVA in SPSS (ver. 25). The total score of the self-care behaviors in the patients referring to the outpatient clinics was moderate (31.88 ± 8.66). Also, significant relationships were observed between the scores of self-care behaviors and physician’s gender, patient’s marital status, patient’s education, and between physician-patient relations scores and physician gender (P-value < 0.05). Moreover, physician-patient relations and marital status could predict the patient’s self-care variable by 22% (R2 = 0.221, F = 5.35). The study results revealed that physician-patient relations could explain the self-care behaviors of patients with HF.