The effect of comprehensive cardiac nursing program on health related quality of life in coronary heart disease patients

Abstract

The purposes of this research were to develop and evaluate the effective of a comprehensive cardiac nursing program (CCNP) on the health related quality of life (HRQOL) in first diagnosed coronary heart disease (CHD) patients. This study was randomized control trial two group pretest and posttest research design. The sample, 74 first diagnosed CHD patients were randomly assigned to the experimental or control group by using blocked randomization, consisting of 37 subjects in each group. The participants in the control group received usual care, whereas the participants in the experimental group received the CCNP together with usual care within 8 weeks. The CCNP was developed based on the self-management model of Kanfer and Goelick-Buy (1991). The CCNP emphasized patients’ risky health behavior management including diet management, physical activity and exercise management, smoking cessation management, and stress management based on Ornish’s heart disease reversal program (Ornish, 1990), and existing knowledge. The experimental group underwent 4 phases: 1) the risky health behavior assessment, 2) the preparation phases, 3) the practice phase, and 4) the evaluation phase. The media of this program were composed of DVD concerning the risk health behaviors management of CHD patients, a coronary heart disease booklet, and a diary heart book. The instrument for collecting the HRQOL was Quality of Life index-cardiac version IV (Ferrans & Powers, 1984; 1998). Whose internal consistency was proved by cronbach’s alphas coefficient = .95. The independent t-test and pair t-test were used for data analysis. The result revealed that the overall HRQOL scores and in all domains of health and functioning. Social and economic, psychological and spiritual, and family of the experimental group at posttest were significantly higher than the pretest and the control group (p<.05). The finding indicated that the CCNP effectively improved the HRQOL in first diagnosed CHD patients.