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Sheka Shemsi Seid,1 José Amendoeira,2 Maria Regina Ferreira2 1School of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, Institute of Health, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia; 2Department of Nursing, Polytechnic Institute of Santarem, Quality of life Research Center, Santarem, PortugalCorrespondence: Sheka Shemsi Seid, Tel +251 911-298-479, Email sheka.shemsi@ju.edu.etIntroduction: Self-care has been suggested to improve heart failure patients´ health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and decrease the patient mortality rate. However, despite the growing importance of self-care and its obvious relationships with positive health outcomes, the evidence to justify its popularity among Portuguese heart failure (HF) patients is not well documented. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the extent of self-care behavior and level of HRQoL and to examine the relationships between self-care and HRQoL among HF patients.Methods: A descriptive correlational study design was conducted on 24 HF patients. Data were collected by using a validated Portuguese version of the Self-care Heart Failure Index (SCHFI V. 6.2) and the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHFQ). The data were analyzed using SPSS version 26. Descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate statistical tests were utilized. Pearson’s correlation coefficient and multiple linear regression analysis were performed to determine the relationship between self-care behavior and health-related quality of life. Statistical significance was declared at p-value < 0.05.Results: The study participant’s mean (± SD) age was 66.88 ± 12.8 years. The overall mean (± SD) score of self-care maintenance, management, and confidence were 47.77 ± 15.28, 54.38 ± 18.26, and 70.20 ± 17.64, respectively. Higher SCHFI scores indicate better self-care behavior and only self-care confidence reached the self-care adequacy cut-off point 70. The majority of the study participants 11 (45%) had a poor health-related quality of life. Being a male gender (βs =− 0.408, p = 0.049) and having New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class IV (βs = − 0.689, p = 0.009) were associated with poor self-care management. Married marital status (βs = − 0.585, p = 0.021) and NYHA class III (βs = 2.612, p = 0.024) and class IV (βs = 2.416, p = 0.034) were associated with the poor emotional HRQol. Poor physical HRQoL was associated with poor self-care management (βs = − 2.111, p = 0.007) and better self-care maintenance was associated with a good emotional health-related quality of life.Conclusion: Study participants had inadequate self-care maintenance, self-care management, and poor health-related quality of life. Significant correlations were observed between self-care management and physical HRQoL as well as between self-care maintenance and emotional health-related quality of life. Further research with representative sample size and rigorous study designs is recommended to evaluate the correlation of self-care behavior and HRQoL and other predicting variables among patients with heart failure.Keywords: heart failure, self-care, self-management, quality of life, HRQoL, adult

Introduction: Although self-care has a therapeutic effect on heart failure (HF), patients experience a marked reduction in physical and executive function, resulting in poor quality of life (QoL). A literature review revealed limited evidence regarding the possible relationship between self-care and QoL in HF patients. Therefore, this scoping review aimed to identify scientific evidence that examines the extent of self-care, QoL, and relationship between self-care and QoL in patients with HF., Methods: Full-text research published from March 23, 2010, to March 23, 2020, written in English, that had content on both self-care and QoL among adult patients with HF was included. A literature search of electronic databases and web searches was conducted for published articles. Four databases were used: MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library. Studies collected from Google and Google Scholar web searches were also included., Results: Of 1,537 papers identified by the search, 12 were included. The reviewed studies included 3,127 patients. Ten articles used a cross-sectional study design, whereas the remaining articles used a longitudinal and quasi-experimental design. This review found that the extent of self-care practices among patients with HF was inadequate, a significant proportion of patients enrolled in the reviewed studies had a moderate QoL, and higher self-care practices were associated with a better QoL. Self-care behavior and QoL were affected by social support, sex, age, educational level, place of residence, illness knowledge, presence of comorbidities, and functional classification of HF., Conclusion: Self-care behavior was positively correlated with QoL in patients with HF. Self-care and QoL in these patients have been reported to be affected by several factors. Further research with a rigorous study design is recommended to investigate the influence of self-care practices on QoL in patients with HF., Competing Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article., (© The Author(s) 2023.)