. Masoud Bahrami; . Shahram Etemadifar; . Mohsen Shahriari; . Alireza Khosravi Farsani
Volume 4, Issue 5 , November 2014, , Pages 1-6
Abstract
Background: Heart failure is incurable disease and patients often have an ongoing decline oncediagnosed. The symptoms of heart failure may impair the ability of patient to perform activities ...
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Background: Heart failure is incurable disease and patients often have an ongoing decline oncediagnosed. The symptoms of heart failure may impair the ability of patient to perform activities ofdaily living. As heart failure progresses, patients normally increase their reliance on family caregivers.Aims: This paper explored the informational needs and related problems of family caregivers of heartfailure patients as a part of the findings of a study exploring experiences of family caregivers in thecaregiving situation. Setting and Design: Using a qualitative design, 19 family caregivers from threeeducational hospitals in Isfahan, Iran, were recruited. Materials and Methods: Participants wereselected by purposive sampling. Data were collected through semi‑structured interviews. Interviewswere transcribed verbatim and analyzed concurrently. Results: Four major themes were emergedfrom the analysis of the transcripts: “Lack of care‑related knowledge”, “Inaccessibility to responsiblesource of information”, “Lack of guidance from healthcare team” and “caring with ambiguity due tounpredictable nature of the disease”. Caregivers believed that they did not have the basic knowledgerelated to disease and medication administration. They received little guidance and support fromthe health care team on the caregiving roles. They experienced high level of ambiguity and stressin caregiving tasks due to lack of care‑related knowledge and unpredictable nature of disease.Conclusion: The care, which was performed by the caregivers of HF patients, is beyond of theirknowledge, capabilities, and resources. Nurses and other healthcare providers can use the findingsof this study to develop effective educational and supportive programs to facilitate these needs.
