Challenges for Heart Failure Patients Self-Care Systems Analysis of Patients Needs

Self-care is important for heart failure patients. However, what are the views of patients on their situation when it comes to realizing self-care? The aim of the paper is to investigate the self-care needs of HF patients, by understanding the issues they embrace in their self-care processes. In this paper we make a review of 17 interviews and make a classification of what the needs are for possible information technology support systems. Based on the analysis of these interviews, we identify the diversity of needs in support of activities related to different background conditions and the dynamics of change of learning and changes in the heart failure condition. The contribution of the paper is a framework for understanding the diversity of needs and the specific situations of this group of patients. © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committees of CENTERIS/ProjMAN/HCIST 2014