The Revised Self-Care of Heart Failure Index — a new tool for assessing the self-care of Polish patients with heart failure

Abstract

Background: According to the European Society of Cardiology guidelines, self-care is a key part of treatment for patients with heart failure. A large evidence base has been accumulated regarding the direct impact of self-care on the outcome of patients with heart failure. In order to assess self-care in patients with heart failure and to evaluate the effectiveness of the interventions taken, a reliable and culturally acceptable instrument is required. The Revised Self-care of Heart Failure Index (SCHFI) is a new tool for assessing self-care in patients with heart failure.

Aim: Our aim was to test the reliability of the Polish version of the Revised SCHFI.

Methods: The standard forward-backward translation procedure was used to translate the Revised SCHFI questionnaire into Polish. The reliability of the SCHFI was assessed based on Cronbach’s α, item-total correlation, exploratory factor analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis.

Results: A total of 127 patients with heart failure (mean [SD] age, 68.5 [11.2] years) completed the questionnaire. The mean (SD) total self-care score in the study group was 51.92 (22.0). Patients scored the highest in terms of self-care confidence (mean [SD] score, 65.63 [21.0] points), and the lowest in symptom perception (mean [SD] score, 54.64 [18.28] points). The Revised SCHFI had satisfactory psychometric properties in all subscales (self-care maintenance α = 0.790, symptom perception α = 0.790, self-care management α = 0.705).

Conclusion: The Polish version of the Revised SCHFI is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing self-care level in heart failure patients.