Two Lleida Primary Care professionals win a scholarship at the XII FAECAP Congress in Granada

Sonia Sans and Gemma Amat, nurses from the Lleida Primary Care CAP Balaguer, have won the scholarship for Best Research Project during the XII FAECAP Congress thanks to the study "Clinical trial on the effectiveness of self-care educational programs in heart failure care primary school according to educational intensity".

The main objective of the study is to assess the change in the level of self-care in patients with Heart Failure according to the intensity of Health Education received within a Primary Care team. The clinical trial carried out by both professionals has had the support of the Lleida Primary Care Research Support Unit and the IDIAP Jordi Gol i Gurina Primary Care Research Foundation.

The objective of Health Education in the follow-up of Heart Failure is for the patient to have a good management of his pathology in order to achieve a good level of self-care and, consequently, to reduce relapses (exacerbations and morbidity and mortality).

To date, conventional Health Education for patients with Heart Failure has not had a great impact on improving self-care; however, there is controversy with the level of self-care achieved when more intensive educational programs are carried out (finding studies that support intensive education and others that only partially). Socio-family support influences as a favoring factor, while, on the contrary, mood disorders have a negative influence on self-care.

Sonia and Gemma want to compare different groups of Health Education in patients with Heart Failure from CAP Balaguer randomly selected, forming three intervention groups through three Health Education programs: the first through the explanatory technique on disease management, the second through a video and the teachback technique (interactive technique and evaluation of information comprehension), and the third, adding a telephone follow-up (2 calls every 2 months) to reinforce and monitor compliance with the self-care indicators. They want to analyze variables such as self-care, anxiety, depression, socio-family support, years of evolution of Heart Failure, age and sex, among others.

His work aims to conclude that a better level of self-care is obtained with a greater intensity of Health Education. And, taking into account the high prevalence of Heart Failure, morbidity and mortality and healthcare costs, self-care is clearly an essential factor to improve the quality of life of these patients and Family and Community Nursing professionals are essential promoters of self-care in these patients. , with whom they share such a close and longitudinal bond.