Online Psychological Support Group for Patients With Heart Failure and Depression in Promoting Self-care: a Randomized Clinical Trial

Heart failure is a chronic disease, being the second cause of death in Brazil. Currently, it is estimated that 6.4 million Brazilians suffer from this disease. The higher number of rehospitalization, lower survival of these individuals. There are recommendations from Societies of Cardiology for the inclusion of effective self-care for patients with chronic HF, intend greater control of symptoms, greater adherence to treatment and, consequently, decrease of rehospitalization. One of the pillars of self-care's education for chronic patients recommended by the Health Ministry is the management of the patient's emotional aspects. These have been undertreated in most studies. The prevalence of depression among patients with HF is high and ranges from 41% to 72%, and the assessment with the BDI-II, which is the gold standard used, is 67%. Patients with HF and depression have greater difficulty in adhering to treatment and poor maintenance of self-care. Also, they present 4 times more risk of rehospitalization/mortality. Faced with this problem, this project was designed, proposing an online psychological support group for patients with heart failure and depression, primarily aimed at improving self-care, adherence and secondarily at reducing the rates of depression and readmission.