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. 2014 Nov 25:3:689.
doi: 10.1186/2193-1801-3-689. eCollection 2014.

A randomized controlled trial to evaluate an educational strategy involving community health volunteers in improving self-care in patients with chronic heart failure: Rationale, design and methodology

Soraya Siabani  1 , Tim Driscoll  2 , Patricia M Davidson  3 , Stephen R Leeder  4
Affiliations

A randomized controlled trial to evaluate an educational strategy involving community health volunteers in improving self-care in patients with chronic heart failure: Rationale, design and methodology

Soraya Siabani et al. Springerplus. .

Abstract

Background: Chronic heart failure (CHF) is an increasingly important health problem worldwide. Effective self-care can improve the outcomes and quality of life in patients with CHF. Acknowledging the important role of educational interventions for improving self-care, we sought to assess a new educational strategy involving community health volunteers (CHVs) that could reduce the cost and, hypothetically, increase the effectiveness of self-care education in patients with CHF.

Methods/design: In this ongoing three-arm controlled trial, approved by two human research ethics committees in Australia and Iran, 231 patients with CHF registered at a referral cardiovascular hospital in Iran were randomly allocated into three groups -trained by community health volunteers at patients' homes, rained by formal health professionals at hospital; and a control group with no formal educational exposure. Data obtained through interviewing participants and using the Persian self-care of CHF index (pSCHFI) before and two months after interventions will be analysed using SAS and SPSS.

Discussion: The results of this study may help health service systems, especially in countries with limited resources, make use of community volunteers to teach patients with CHF to develop self-care behaviors and skills, reducing the cost of care and improving CHF outcomes. Also, this home-based educational strategy using face-to-face training, if successful, may provide psychosocial supports for patients suffering from chronic illnesses.

Trial registration number: ACTRN12614000788673 (Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry).

Keywords: Adherence to treatment; Chronic illnesses; Community health workers; Congestive heart failure; Health education; Home-based education; Medical adherence; Self-management.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The CONSORT flow diagram of the randomized controlled trial.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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