Development and Evaluation of a Series of Health Care and Management Programs for Patients with Atrial Fibrillation: Comparing Gender Differences and before and after Interventions

Atrial fibrillation (AFib) is a common cardiac arrhythmia, and its incidence increases with population aging. AFib can lead to stroke or heart failure. The symptoms and treatment outcomes of AFib are inconsistent, engendering confusion in patients with regard to the optimal self-care strategies. In addition, gender differences lead to differences in people’s perceptions of this chronic disease, which subsequently influence patients’ management of the disease in their lives to ensure that they maintain a sufficient quality of life. This thus raises the question as to whether patients’ perceptions of disease and quality of life differ based on gender or health care differences. Accordingly, the aim of the proposed study is to develop gender-specific health care programs specific to AFib patients and then compare AFib patients’ disease knowledge, self-efficacy, and quality of life before and after program intervention. On the basis of results of research conducted in the past years on symptoms and quality of life of AFib patients, on intervention of anticoagulant users, and on gender differences in AFib outcomes, the proposed study has a 3-year plan involving the mentioned programs. In the first year, a self-care management program based on a Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP) will be provided for patients with symptoms or low to moderate quality of life, as identified in a previous 1-year follow-up study. In the second and third years, a self-care application (APP) serving as a health information and management system will be constructed according to experience and findings as well as patient needs documented in the first year, and participants will be a user of smartphones. The study will determine gender differences in patients’ knowledge, self-efficacy, and quality of life before regarding AFib, before, right after, 3 months after, and 6 months after interventions of the self-management program and self-care APP. The established AFib self-care model will improve patients’ knowledge of disease care and quality of life, prevent stroke and heart failure complications, and serve as a guide for long-term care networks from hospitals to homes.

Project ID:PF10907-2406
External Project ID:MOST109-2629-B182-001