Effectiveness of nurse-led self-care interventions on self-care behaviors, self-efficacy, depression and illness perceptions in people with heart failure: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Insufficient self-care behaviors, low self-efficacy, depression, and poor illness perceptions are obstacles to the management of people with heart failure, leading to adverse patient outcomes. Self-care interventions are strategies used to support individuals in self-care. Currently, evidence on the effects of nurse-led self-care interventions on self-care behaviors and the correlates (self-efficacy, depression, and illness perceptions) in people with heart failure is scarce.This review aims to systematically synthesize current evidence to determine the effectiveness of nurse-led self-care interventions on self-care behaviors, self-efficacy, depression, and illness perceptions among people with heart failure and identify the optimal characteristics of effective nurse-led heart failure self-care programs.MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, CENTRAL, CINAHL, and PsycINFO were electrically searched for relevant articles from the inception to December 2021. Randomized controlled trials examining the effects of nurse-led self-care interventions on self-care behaviors, self-efficacy, depression, and illness perceptions among people with heart failure published in the English language were included. The quality appraisal of included studies was performed using the revised Cochrane tool for assessment of the risk of bias in randomized controlled trials (RoB 2.0). The meta-analysis was conducted using statistical software R. The certainty of the evidence was rated using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach.Twenty-four trials with 2488 participants were identified in this review. The results of our study revealed that nurse-led self-care interventions improved self-care maintenance (mean difference [MD]: 9.58, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 5.96 to 13.20, moderate certainty of evidence), self-care management (MD: 12.08, 95% CI: 8.05 to 16.11, high certainty of evidence), self-efficacy (standardized mean difference [SMD]: 0.98, 95% CI: 0.42 to 1.54, moderate certainty of evidence), and depression (SMD: 0.55, 95% CI: 0.34 to 0.77, high certainty of evidence) among people with heart failure. Moreover, subgroup analyses indicated that the ideal intervention duration to enhance self-care behaviors and self-efficacy was 1 to 3 months and to reduce depression was within 1 month.This review revealed the beneficial effects of the nurse-led self-care interventions on self-care behaviors, self-efficacy, and depression among people with heart failure. The duration of the intervention is one of the factors that may affect the intervention effects. Further well-designed randomized controlled trials are recommended to strengthen the current evidence.(PROSPERO): CRD42022299754.