Relationship between the level of perceived social support and self-care in heart failure inpatients

Abstract

Introduction: In Brazil, there is a gap in the literature regarding the relationship between social support and self-care among patients with heart failure (HF). This knowledge could determine which dimensions of social support are more related to self-care behaviors, thereby guiding more predictive and more assertive therapeutic approaches. Objective: To identify the relationship between the level of perceived social support and self-care of HF inpatients. Materials and methods: An observational, analytical, cross-sectional study will be performed with 96 patients with chronic HF hospitalized in any sector of Hospital São Paulo, for any reason. The independent variable of the study will be social support. The dependent variable will be the level of self-care. The covariables will be classified in sociodemographic and clinical. Social support will be measured by means of the Social Outcomes Study (MOS-SSS) Social Support Scale of each dimension: emotional/informational support; material support; affective support; socio-affective support. The level of self-care will be considered a continuous variable, according to the scores of each section of the Self-Care Heart Failure Scale (SCHFS). Sociodemographic and clinical variables will be analyzed in a descriptive way, through measures of central tendency and dispersion. The relationships between the scores of each of the self-care components of HF and the social support perception scores of each MOS-SSS dimension will be investigated through simple and multiple linear regression by controlling for sociodemographic and clinical covariables.