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Publication Using Growth Mixture Modeling to Identify Classes of Sodium Adherence in Adults with Heart Failure(2014-05-01) Masterson-Creber, Ruth; Lee, Christopher S; Lennie, Terry A; Riegel, Barbara; Riegel, BarbaraBACKGROUND: The prevention of fluid retention is important to reduce hospitalizations in patients with heart failure (HF). Following a low-sodium diet helps to reduce fluid retention. OBJECTIVE: The primary objective of this study was to use growth mixture modeling to identify distinct classes of sodium adherence-characterized by shared growth trajectories of objectively measured dietary sodium. The secondary objective was to identify patient-level determinants of the nonadherent trajectory. METHODS: This was a secondary analysis of data collected from a prospective longitudinal study of 279 community-dwelling adults with previously or currently symptomatic HF. Growth mixture modeling was used to identify distinct trajectories of change in 24-hour urinary sodium excretion measured at 3 time points over 6 months. Logistic modeling was used to predict membership in observed trajectories. RESULTS: The sample was predominantly male (64%), had a mean age of 62 years, was functionally compromised (59% New York Heart Association class III), and had nonischemic HF etiology. Two distinct trajectories of sodium intake were identified and labeled adherent (66%) and nonadherent (34%) to low-sodium diet recommendations. Three predictors of the nonadherent trajectory were identified, confirming our previous mixed-effect analysis. Compared with being normal weight (body mass index/m2), being overweight and obese was associated with a 4-fold incremental increase in the likelihood of being in the nonadherent trajectory (odds ratio [OR], 4.63; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.66-12.91; P < .002). Being younger than 65 years (OR, 4.66; 95% CI, 1.04-20.81; P = .044) or having diabetes (OR, 4.15; 95% CI, 1.29-13.40; P = .016) were both associated with more than 4 times the odds of being in the nonadherent urine sodium trajectory compared with being older than 65 years or not having diabetes, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Two distinct trajectories of sodium intake were identified in patients with HF. The nonadherent trajectory was characterized by an elevated pattern of dietary sodium intake shown by others to be associated with adverse outcomes in HF. Predictors of the nonadherent trajectory included higher body mass index, younger age, and diabetes.Publication Motivational Interviewing to Improve Self-Care for Patients with Chronic Heart Failure: MITI-HF Randomized Controlled Trial(2016-02-01) Masterson-Creber, Ruth; Patey, Megan; Lee, Christopher S; Kuan, Amy; Riegel, Barbara; Riegel, BarbaraOBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to test the efficacy of a tailored motivational interviewing (MI) intervention versus usual care for improving HF self-care behaviors, physical HF symptoms and quality of life. METHODS: This is a single-center, randomized controlled trial. Participants were enrolled in the hospital. Immediately after discharge, those in the intervention group received a single home visit and 3-4 follow-up phone calls by a nurse over 90 days. RESULTS: A total of 67 participants completed the study (mean age 62±12.8 years), of which 54% were African American, 30% were female, 84% had class III/IV symptoms, and 63% were educated at a high school level or less. There were no differences between the groups in self-care maintenance, self-care confidence, physical HF symptoms, or quality of life at 90 days. CONCLUSION: Patients who received the MI intervention had significant and clinically meaningful improvements in HF self-care maintenance over 90 days that exceeded that of usual care. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: These data support the use of a nurse-led MI intervention for improving HF self-care. Identifying methods to improve HF self-care may lead to improved clinical outcomes.Publication Relationship Between Self-Care and Health-Related Quality of Life in Older Adults with Moderate to Advanced Heart Failure(2012-01-01) Buck, Harleah G; Lee, Christopher S; Moser, Debra K; Albert, Nancy M; Lennie, Terry A; Bentley, Brooke; Riegel, Barbara; Riegel, BarbaraBackground: Heart failure (HF) patients who follow the treatment regimen and attend to symptoms before they escalate are assumed to have better health-related quality of life (HRQOL) than those with poor self-care, but there are few data available to support or refute this assumption. Objective: The objective of the study was to describe the relationship between HF self-care and HRQOL in older (≥65 years old) adults with moderate to advanced HF. Methods: Self-care was measured using the 3 scales (maintenance, management, and confidence) of the Self-care of Heart Failure Index. Scores range from 0 to 100, with higher numbers indicating better self-care. Health-related quality of life was measured with the Minnesota Living With Heart Failure Questionnaire, a 2-subscale (physical and emotional) instrument. Lower numbers on the Minnesota Living With Heart Failure Questionnaire indicate better HRQOL. Pearson correlations, independent-samples t-tests, and linear and logistic regression modeling were used in the analysis. Results: In 207 adults (72.9 [SD, 6.3] years), New York Heart Association class III (82%) or IV, significant linear associations were observed between self-care confidence and total (r = −0.211; P = .002), physical (r = −0.189; P = .006), and emotional HRQOL (r = −0.201; P = .004). Patients reporting better (below median) HRQOL had higher confidence scores compared with patients reporting above-median HRQOL scores (58.8 [19.2] vs 52.8 [19.6]; P = .028). Confidence was an independent determinant of total (βs = −3.191; P = .002), physical (βs = −2.346; P = .002), and emotional (βs = −3.182; P = .002) HRQOL controlling for other Self-care of Heart Failure Index scores, age, gender, and New York Heart Association class. Each 1-point increase in confidence was associated with a decrease in the likelihood that patients had worse (above median) HRQOL scores (odds ratio, 0.980 [95% confidence interval, 0.963–0.998]) with the same controls. No significant associations were found between self-care maintenance or management and HRQOL. Conclusions: The degree of individual confidence in HF self-care is related to HRQOL, but self-reports of specific maintenance and management behaviors are not. Interventions that improve self-care confidence may be particularly important in older adults with moderate to advanced HF.Publication A Dyadic Approach to Managing Heart Failure with Confidence(2015-07-01) Lyons, Karen S; Vellone, Ercole; Lee, Christopher S; Cocchieri, Antonello; Bidwell, Julie T; D'Agostino, Fabio; Hiatt, Shirin O; Alvaro, Rosaria; Riegel, Barbara; Riegel, BarbaraBackground: The majority of heart failure (HF) self-care research remains focused on patients, despite the important involvement of family caregivers. Although self-care confidence has been found to play an important role in the effectiveness of HF self-care management on patient outcomes, no known research has examined self-care confidence within a dyadic context. Objective: The purpose of this study was to identify individual and dyadic determinants of self-care confidence in HF care dyads. Methods: Multilevel modeling, which controls for the interdependent nature of dyadic data, was used to examine 329 Italian HF dyads (caregivers were either spouses or adult children). Results: Both patients and caregivers reported lower-than-adequate levels of confidence, with caregivers reporting slightly higher confidence than patients. Patient and caregiver levels of confidence were significantly associated with greater patient-reported relationship quality and better caregiver mental health. Patient confidence in self-care was significantly associated with patient female gender, nonspousal care dyads, poor caregiver physical health, and low care strain. Caregiver confidence to contribute to self-care was significantly associated with poor emotional quality of life in patients and greater perceived social support by caregivers. Conclusions: Findings are supportive of the need for a dyadic perspective of HF self-care in practice and research as well as the importance of addressing the needs of both members of the dyad to maximize optimal outcomes for both.Publication Determinants of Heart Failure Self-Care Maintenance and Management in Patients and Caregivers: A Dyadic Analysis(2015-08-20) Bidwell, Julie T; Vellone, Ercole; Lyons, Karen S; Riegel, Barbara; Riegel, Barbara; Juárez-Vela, Raúl; Hiatt, Shirin O; Alvaro, Rosaria; Lee, Christopher SDisease self-management is a critical component of maintaining clinical stability for patients with chronic illness. This is particularly evident in the context of heart failure (HF), which is the leading cause of hospitalization for older adults. HF self-management, commonly known as HF self-care, is often performed with the support of informal caregivers. However, little is known about how a HF dyad manages the patient's care together. The purpose of this study was to identify determinants of patient and caregiver contributions to HF self-care maintenance (daily adherence and symptom monitoring) and management (appropriate recognition and response to symptoms), utilizing an approach that controls for dyadic interdependence. This was a secondary analysis of cross-sectional data from 364 dyads of Italian HF patients and caregivers. Multilevel modeling was used to identify determinants of HF self-care within patient-caregiver dyads. Patients averaged 76.2 (SD = 10.7) years old, and a slight majority (56.9%) was male, whereas caregivers averaged 57.4 (SD = 14.6) years old, and about half (48.1%) were male. Most caregivers were adult children (48.4%) or spouses (32.7%) of patients. Both patients and caregivers reported low levels of HF maintenance and management behaviors. Significant individual and dyadic determinants of self-care maintenance and self-care management included gender, quality of life, comorbid burden, impaired ADLs, cognition, hospitalizations, HF duration, relationship type, relationship quality, and social support. These comprehensive dyadic models assist in elucidating the complex nature of patient-caregiver relationships and their influence on HF self-care, leading to more effective ways to intervene and optimize outcomes.Publication The Problem with Cronbach's Alpha: Comment on Sijtsma and Van der Ark (2015)(2015-03-01) Barbaranelli, Claudio; Lee, Christopher S; Riegel, Barbara; Riegel, BarbaraKnowledge of a scale's dimensionality is an essential preliminary step to the application of any measure of reliability derived from classical test theory--an approach commonly used is nursing research. The focus of this article is on the applied aspects of reliability and dimensionality testing. Throughout the article, the Self-Care of Heart Failure Index is used to exemplify real-world data challenges of quantifying reliability and to provide insight into how to overcome such challenges.Publication Measures of Self-Care in Heart Failure: Issues with Factorial Structure and Reliability(2015-01-01) Vellone, Ercole; Barbaranelli, Claudio; Riegel, Barbara; Riegel, BarbaraDear Editor We read with great interest the recently published paper by Dr Lambrinou and colleagues1 entitled “The Greek version of the 9-item European heart failure self-care behaviour scale: A multidimensional or an uni-dimensional scale?” The paper is one of several papers published on the psychometric properties of the European Heart Failure Self-care Behaviour Scale (EHFScBS) and continues to raise the important questions: (1) Is self-care of heart failure (HF) a multidimensional or an uni-dimensional construct? (2) Is self-care of HF a generalizable construct across countries? (3) Is Cronbach's alpha the best approach to estimate reliability of instruments?Publication Gender Diferences in Heart Failure Self-Care: A Multinational Cross-Sectional Study(2009-11-01) Riegel, Barbara; Riegel, Barbara; Driscoll, Andrea; Suwanno, Jom; Moser, Debra K; Lennie, Terry A; Dickson, Victoria V; Cameron, Jan; Worall-Carter, LindaBackground Despite a common view that women are better at self-care, there is very little evidence to support or challenge this perspective in the heart failure (HF) population. Objective The purpose of this study was to determine if there are cross-cultural gender differences in self-reported HF self-care and to describe gender differences in the determinants of HF self-care. Design, setting, and participants A secondary analysis was completed of cross-sectional study data collected on 2082 adults with chronic HF from the United States, Australia and Thailand. Methods Comparisons were made between men and women regarding self-care maintenance, management and confidence as assessed by the Self-Care of Heart Failure Index, as well as the proportion of subjects engaged in adequate self-care. Multivariate comparisons were made to determine if gender explained sufficient variance in HF self-care and the likelihood of reporting adequate self-care, controlling for nine model covariates. Results The sample was comprised of 1306 men and 776 women. Most (73.5%) had systolic or mixed systolic and diastolic HF and 45% had New York Heart Association class III or IV HF. Although small and clinically insignificant gender differences were found in self-care maintenance, gender was not a determinant of any aspect of HF self-care in multivariate models. Married women were 37% less likely to report adequate self-care maintenance than unmarried women. Comorbidities only influenced the HF self-care of men. Being newly diagnosed with HF also primarily affected men. Patients with diastolic HF (predominantly women) had poorer self-care maintenance and less confidence in self-care. Conclusion Differences in HF self-care are attributable to factors other than gender; however, there are several gender-specific determinants of HF self-care that help identify patients at risk for practicing poor self-care.Publication Self-Care for the Prevention and Management of Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke: A Scientific Statement for Healthcare Professionals from the American Heart Association(2017-08-31) Riegel, Barbara; Riegel, Barbara; Moser, Debra K; Buck, Harleah G; Dickson, Victoria Vaughan; Dunbar, Sandra B; Lee, Christopher S; Lennie, Terry A; Lindenfeld, JoAnn; Mitchell, Judith E; Treat-Jacobson, Diane J; Webber, David ESelf‐care is defined as a naturalistic decision‐making process addressing both the prevention and management of chronic illness, with core elements of self‐care maintenance, self‐care monitoring, and self‐care management. In this scientific statement, we describe the importance of self‐care in the American Heart Association mission and vision of building healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke. The evidence supporting specific self‐care behaviors such as diet and exercise, barriers to self‐care, and the effectiveness of self‐care in improving outcomes is reviewed, as is the evidence supporting various individual, family‐based, and community‐based approaches to improving self‐care. Although there are many nuances to the relationships between self‐care and outcomes, there is strong evidence that self‐care is effective in achieving the goals of the treatment plan and cannot be ignored. As such, greater emphasis should be placed on self‐care in evidence‐based guidelines.Publication Psychometric Testing of the Self-Care of Coronary Heart Disease Inventory (SC-CHDI)(2016-09-30) Dickson, Victoria V; Lee, Christopher S; Yehle, Karen S; Mola, Ana; Riegel, Barbara; Riegel, BarbaraAlthough coronary heart disease (CHD) requires a significant amount of self‐care, there are no instruments available to measure self‐care in this population. The purpose of this study was to test the psychometric properties of the Self‐Care of Coronary Heart Disease Inventory (SC‐CHDI). Using the Self‐Care of Chronic Illness theory, we developed a 22‐item measure of maintenance, management, and confidence appropriate for persons with stable CHD and tested it in a convenience sample of 392 adults (62% male, mean age 61.4 ± 9.6 years). Factorial validity was tested with confirmatory factor analysis. Convergent validity was tested with the Medical Outcomes Study MOS‐SAS Specific Adherence Scale and the Decision Making Competency Inventory (DMCI). Cronbach alpha and factor determinacy scores (FDS) were calculated to assess reliability. Two multidimensional self‐care scales were confirmed: self‐care maintenance included “consultative behaviors” (e.g., taking medicines as prescribed) and “autonomous behaviors” (e.g., exercising 30 minute/day; FDS = .87). The multidimensional self‐care management scale included “early recognition and response” (e.g., recognizing symptoms) and “delayed response” (e.g., taking an aspirin; FDS = .76). A unidimensional confidence factor captured confidence in each self‐care process (α = .84). All the self‐care dimensions were associated with treatment adherence as measured by the MOS‐SAS. Only self‐care maintenance and confidence were associated with decision‐making (DCMI). These findings support the conceptual basis of self‐care in patients with CHD as a process of maintenance that includes both consultative and autonomous behaviors, and management with symptom awareness and response. The SC‐CHDI confidence scale is promising as a measure of self‐efficacy, an important factor influencing self‐care.