The educational needs of Iranian family caregivers of patients with advanced heart failure: A qualitative study

abdolazim tavakoli; Mahnaz Ilkhani; Tahereh  Ashktorab; Camelia   Rohani

International Cardiovascular Research Journal

The Official Annually Journal of Cardiovascular Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences

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The educational needs of Iranian family caregivers of patients with advanced heart failure: A qualitative study

Author(s):

abdolazim tavakoli

¹,

Mahnaz Ilkhani

^2,*,

Tahereh Ashktorab²,

Camelia Rohani²

1Student Research Committee, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran

2School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran

International Cardiovascular Research Journal:Vol. 12, issue 4; e80942

Published online:Dec 15, 2018

Article type:Research Article

Received:Dec 08, 2018

Accepted:Nov 27, 2018

How to Cite:abdolazim tavakoliMahnaz IlkhaniTahereh AshktorabCamelia RohaniThe educational needs of Iranian family caregivers of patients with advanced heart failure: A qualitative study.Int Cardiovasc Res J.12(4):e80942.

Abstract

Background:

Caregivers of heart patients are regarded as one of the key health resources in healthcare systems around the world. They play a major role in guidance and continuation of care. Nonetheless, they are often neglected in interventional programs even though paying attention to caregivers and their educational needs can enrich the educational interventions designed for this group of patients.

Objectives:

This article aimed to explain the educational needs of the family caregivers of patients with Heart Failure (HF) from the perspective of key informants as a part of a sequential exploratory mixed method study.

Materials and Methods:

In this study, 14 in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with key informants selected through purposive sampling. The data were analyzed using a regular interview and analysis plan based on a qualitative content analysis approach.

Results:

The educational needs of the family caregivers were summarized as three themes: “basic care management education”, “care with dignity”, and “resilience development”. The first theme consisted of gaining targeted knowledge and skills, crisis management, and improving patients’ quality of life, all of which pointed to the caregivers’ need for knowledge and skills in order to meet patients’ basic needs, manage their critical situations, and help them achieve a higher quality of life. The second theme consisted of respecting patients and caregivers’ accountability, which were relate to the educational needs of caregivers in terms of respecting patients’ dignity during care and meeting their transcendent needs as proposed in the higher level of Maslow’s hierarchy. The third theme dealt with maintaining caregivers’ physical and psychosocial health, challenge management using internal and external resources, and promoting participatory care, which indicated the techniques needed to empower caregivers to continue proper caregiving and adapt to their caregiving role.

Conclusions:

Family caregivers of HF patients need to learn resilience strategies and gain targeted knowledge about generous caregiving. Therefore, identifying the educational needs of this group of caregivers will play a major role in designing programs for their empowerment.

Keywords

Heart Failure

Caregivers

Qualitative Research

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References

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