Self-Care and Its Related Factors among Patients with Congestive Heart Failure in Surakarta, Indonesia

Self-care is an essential factor that affects the improvement of the health conditions of patients with heart failure. It is known that several variables affect self-care, including self-efficacy, family support, social support, distress, age, duration of illness. However, there are still few studies that have addressed these variables together. This study aimed to determine the factors that affect self-care among heart failure patients. This research used an analytic observational research design through a cross-sectional approach. The sampling method used an accidental sampling technique and resulted in 73 respondents who were selected based on pre-determined sample criteria. Participants were asked to fill out questionnaires, including self-care, self-efficacy, family support, anxiety, and demography variables. The data analysis included bivariate (Pearson) and multivariate regression analysis to estimate the correlation between self-care and self-efficacy, family support, anxiety, age, and disease length. 73 patients with heart failure in this study had an average self-care score of 31.33, which means that patients can do self-care well. From the five variables carried out in the multivariate analysis, there were only two variables (family support and self-efficacy) that had a significant effect on patient self-care. Family support is the main factor affecting self-care (β= 1,949, p= 0.000), followed by self-efficacy (β= 0.226, p= 0.001), then self-efficacy, where both had a positive correlation. The results indicated that a strategy is needed to improve self-care for heart failure patients, which includes family support and self-efficacy to achieve optimal results.