Heart Failure Knowledge, Symptom Perception, and Symptom Management in Patients With Heart Failure

Background Prevention of heart failure (HF) exacerbations requires that patients carefully self-manage their condition. Symptom perception is a key component in self-care for patients with HF that involves monitoring for HF symptoms and recognizing symptom changes. Heart failure knowledge is a prerequisite for better symptom perception and symptom management. However, the relationships among HF knowledge, symptom perception, and symptom management remain unclear. Objective The aim of this study was to explore the inter-relationships among HF knowledge, symptom monitoring, symptom recognition, and symptom response in patients with HF. Method We included 185 patients with HF in this study. Heart failure knowledge was measured using the Dutch HF Knowledge Scale. Symptom monitoring, symptom recognition, and symptom response were measured using the Self-care of HF Index. Structural equation modeling was used for data analyses. Results Heart failure knowledge was associated with symptom monitoring (β =.357, P <.001). Symptom monitoring was directly associated with both symptom recognition (β =.371, P <.001) and symptom response (β =.499, P <.001). Symptom recognition was directly associated with symptom response (β =.274, P <.001). Heart failure knowledge was not directly associated with symptom recognition, nor with symptom response. Heart failure knowledge was indirectly associated with symptom recognition and symptom response through symptom monitoring. Conclusion Symptom monitoring is associated with both symptom recognition and symptom response and is a mediator between HF knowledge and symptom recognition and between HF knowledge and symptom response. This finding suggests that it is important for clinicians not just to increase patients' HF knowledge but also to enhance their skills of symptom monitoring and symptom recognition and promote symptom monitoring among patients to improve symptom response in self-care.