Assessment instruments for the measurement of the health-related self-care of patients with heart failure

Heart Failure is a frequent disease that is accompanied by much suffering for the patients and high costs for the health care system. An improvement of the health-related self-care is supposed to improve the outcomes of patients with heart failure. In order to to evaluate the efficiency of interventions valid and reliable instruments measuring the health-related self-care are needed in practice and research. The aim of the systematic literature review is to create a synopsis of the present nursing assessment instruments for the measurement of the health-related self-care of patients with heart failure and to evaluate these instruments' reliability and validity. With a systematic literature search in three electronic databases and hand-search studies using instruments that measure the health-related self-care of patients with heart failure have been identified. The instruments are described and their reliability and validity are discussed. Results: Five Instruments were identified: European Heart Failure Self-care Behaviour Scale (EHFScBS); Revised Heart Failure Self-care Behaviour Scale (rHFScBS); Heart Failure Self-Care Inventory (HFS-CI), Self-Management of Heart Failure Scale (SMHF); Self-Care of Heart Failure Index (SCHFI). As far as the psychometric properties are concerned, each of these scales has its strengths and weaknesses. The EHFScBS, the HFS-CI, and the SCHFI can be recommended with restriction for use in practice and research. However further testing in order to evaluate reliability and validity is necessary for all instruments.