A Self-Care Intervention for Hispanic Patients With Heart Failure

A randomized clinical trial research design is planned. Investigators will obtain baseline and final measures on the intervention and control groups. A sample of 60 adult Hispanic heart failure patients will be recruited. Each patient will either participate in the psychoeducational intervention or usual care. A repeated measures (longitudinal) analysis will be used to examine these aims by employing a linear mixed models approach. The basic analysis has one between subjects (fixed) factor, group, with 2 levels (education and control) and one repeated factor, time, with 2 levels (baseline and 12 months). This analysis allows for testing the main effect of group, main effect of time, and the group by time interaction. The potential benefit of improving heart failure knowledge and self-care in Hispanic heart failure patients is that these patients may better understand how to care for themselves. This study will provide data to examine the longer-term outcomes of emergency department visits and hospitalization events in Hispanic patients.