BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of a large percentage of deaths worldwide. With the improvement in the survival of coronary artery disease patients in recent decades, continuous self-care programs (based on education and prevention) are increasingly recommended. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of continuous care model on quality of life, self-efficacy and adherence to the treatment regimen of patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft.
METHODS: This quasi-experimental study was performed with a single group before and after the intervention among 85 patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting in Tehran Social Security hospitals in 2016. Data were collected based on demographic questionnaires, McNew quality of life (lowest score 27 and highest score 189), general self-efficacy (lowest score 10 and highest score 40), and researcher-made regimen questionnaire (3 areas of diet, medication, and physical activity), (score of each domain 0-100%, undesirable adherence: less than 50% of the total score, desirable adherence: more than 75% of the total score). The intervention was based on the continuous care model (orientation, sensitization, control, evaluation). Training sessions were held for 4 weeks (stages 1 and 2) while control and evaluation were performed during 8 weeks after that. Questionnaires were completed and analyzed by patients before and 3 months after the intervention.
FINDINGS: The results showed that the scores of quality of life, self-efficacy and treatment regimen of patients before the intervention were 72.08±3.55, 25.08±2.48 and 180.18±9.61, respectively, and after the intervention were 85.13±0.63, 38.76±1.11, and 287.94±2.36, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference between the mean score of self-efficacy, quality of life and treatment regimen before and after the intervention (p<0.001).
CONCLUSION: According to the results of this study, the continuous care model has a positive effect on increasing the quality of life, self-efficacy and treatment regimen of patients.