The intervention
heart disease
DISEASE, HEART DISEASE
In the interventional group, in addition to educational pamphlets and routine hospital care, telephone counseling was performed for 8 weeks. It was conducted by a MSc nurse that had 3 years of experience working as a nurse in CCU wards. Each patient gave us his/her contact number as well as that of a family member; the researcher gave them her contact number. They were provided with a schedule of telephone calls, which included 3 calls per week for 8-weeks. The average call time was 30 min. The range of contact time was from 8 A.M. to 9 P.M. In the case of any problems or questions, they were in contact with the researcher at the same time interval. The patient was referred to a physician to follow up on his/her questions and problems, if necessary.In the first telephone call, the Orem Needs Assessment was utilized to evaluate the client’s needs during the initial telephone call in the intervention group. This program incorporates distinctive aspects, including the identification of universal and health deviation self-care requisites, as well as promotion of the individuals’ independence and active engagement in self-care for maintaining the structural and functional integrity of a person [The care plan was designed and developed based on the goals in the form of a supporting education system that included: (1) Meeting the patient’s needs in self-care, (2) Making the patient responsible for self-care, and (3) Increasing the patient’s independence in care and his/her adaptation to the changes that have been made, etc. Therefore, the nurse here has an advisory role based on Orem’s supporting education system. For example, for a heart disease patient who has high blood cholesterol, the nurse helps the patient by educating him/her about a healthy diet such as reducing the consumption of saturated fats, losing weight, etc. by increasing awareness about their diet. Moreover, a patient with heart disease who had undergone angioplasty and his self-confidence had decreased due to the limitations, the nurse helped him to trust his abilities against the disease by focusing on the patient’s capabilities, strengthening positive behaviors, and improving the behavioral and mental performance of the patient to help him adapt to the disease and feel good despite the limitations [The content of telephone conversations generally included the researcher’s self-introduction, inquiring about the patient’s general health condition, giving healthcare advice, informing the patient about nutrition and medication, assessing the patient’s level of adherence to dietary and medication regimen, evaluating the behavioral objectives agreed upon by the patients and the researcher, reinforcing health behaviors, terminating the call with the words of encouragement, and arranging the next contact. During the telephone conversation, the researcher emphasized compliance with the plans and proposed possible solutions to the patient’s problems.