The Relationship Between Social Support and Self-care in Patients With Heart Failure: The Role of Illness Related Worries as a Mediator

Objectives: Heart failure (HF), as a chronic disease, is a progressive and debilitating problem in communities. In previous studies, the role of self-care in HF has been emphasized. Illness-related worries and social support are associated with self-care. The aim of this study is to explore the role of illness-related worries as a mediator in the relationship between social support and self-care in patients with HF. Materials and Methods: This descriptive and correlational study was conducted on 149 HF patients based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, in 2016. Patients were selected using availability sampling. For data collection, a demographic information questionnaire, self-care behavior scale, illness-related worries questionnaire, and social support scale were used. In addition, the Pearson correlation coefficient and Sobel test were also conducted. Results: Sobel test results was used for understanding the mediating role of illness related-worries (P <0.01, Sobel test result = -5.16). The correlation between social support and self-care was -0.518, P <0.01, and the correlation between illness-related worries and self-care was -0.71, P < 0.01. Conclusions: This study showed that illness related worries can serve as a mediator in the relationship between social support and self-care. There was a significant correlation between the research variables