ILLNESS PERCEPTION IN PATIENTS WITH HEART FAILURE ADMITTED TO SELECTED CENTERS OF IRAN UNIVERSITY OF MEDICAL SCIENCES

Background & Aims: Disease perception is based on patients’ beliefs and perceived information about their condition which affects the mental health of the individual and how they deal with it. The purpose of this study was to determine the perception of disease in patients with heart failure. Materials & Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on 150 patients admitted to the Cardiology Care Units of selected hospitals affiliated to Iran University of Medical Sciences in 1396. All patients were selected by the sequential method. Data were collected as self-report using the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (B-IPQ). Data analysis was done using descriptive and inferential statistics (Scheffé test (Post Hoc Test) ANOVA and Pearson Correlation Coefficient) in SPSS software version 16. Results: The lowest score of illness perception in the selected units was 30, the highest score was 76, and the mean score of disease perception in patients with heart failure was 59.42 ± 7.86. The lowest mean was allocated to the illness perception (4.58 ± 3.17) and the highest mean related to the outcome (9/33 ± 1/34) followed by the patients’ degrees of concern (8.79 ± 21.14). Most of the units (54.7%) considered stress and psychological problems as the most important cause of the disease. The second and third factors were their lifestyle (46%) and socioeconomic problems (30.7%). The results showed that educational level variables (P = 0.004), income adequacy (P = 0.002), discharge fraction (P = 0.001) and severity of disease (P <0.001) and exercise or physical activities (P = 0.001) were related to illness perception. Conclusion: According to the findings, patients were considered to be at high risk for illness perception. The results of this study can be the basis for further research in order to select appropriate strategies for improving illness perception in patients with heart failure which can ultimately lead to advancement of disease management by patients.