FACTORS INFLUENCING ADHERENCE TO LOW SODIUM DIET IN PERSONS WITH HEART FAILURE

Abstract

The purposes of this descriptive study were to develop and examine the causal relationships between variables including attitude toward adherence to low sodium diet, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and intention to adherence to low sodium diet in Thai persons with heart failure. This study was conducted using The theory of planned behavior as the conceptual framework. The total of 165 persons with heart failure who returned back the 3-day food record were recruited. The data collection took place at the outpatient department and/or cardiac clinic of the 6 public tertiary care hospitals in Central region of Thailand. Structured questionnaires were employed including a demographic questionnaire, The Dietary Sodium Restriction Questionnaire (DSRQ), Intention to adherence to a low sodium diet questionnaire, and a 3-day food record. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistic, and structural equation modeling. The result revealed that the goodness of fit indices illustrated the adherence to low sodium diet model fit to the empirical data( χ2 = 164.96, df=150, P-value=0.19, RMSEA=0.000). The model could not explain the variance of adherence to low sodium diet in persons with heart failure(R2=0.00, p>.05). Attitude toward adherence to low sodium diet, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control had no effects on adherence to low sodium diet through intention. However, the model explained 30% of the variance of intention among persons with heart failure(R2=0.30, p.05).