The Effects of a Health Literacy Training Intervention on Self-Care Behaviors and Treatment Adherence in Patients with Ischemic Heart Diseases

Abstract

Objectives: This study examined the effect of a health literacy training intervention on self-care behaviors and treatment adherence in patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD). Methods: A quasi-experimental study was conducted in 2020, on 50 patients with IHD referred to a medical center in Kashan, Iran. The patients were assigned to a control group (n=25) and an intervention (n=25) group via a block randomization method. The intervention group received a health literacy training intervention, while the control group did not. The "Adherence to Treatment Questionnaire" and the "Self-Care Behavior Questionnaire" were used to gather the data at the start and the end of the study. Results: The mean baseline self-care behaviors in the intervention and the control groups were 61.56±10.99 and 56.25±8.42 (p=0.061) out of 100, which then changed to 85.24±4.06 and 53.01±4.86 (p