COMPARISON OF THE EFFECT OF SELF-CARE EDUCATION THROUGH HOSPITAL ROUTINE AND SOCIAL NETWORKS METHODS ON QUALITY OF LIFE OF CORONARY ARTERY BYPASS GRAFT PATIENTS

Background and Purpose: Coronary artery bypass grafting [CABG] is currently performed to relieve coronary artery disease. This study evaluates the effects of two self-care approaches of hospital routine technique and social networks on the quality of life of patients undergoing CABG. Methods: One hundred candidates of CABG were enrolled in this study who then completed the questionnaires of demographic characteristics and MacNew heart disease health-related quality of life. Before hospital discharge, patients attended a 20-30 min self-care education session, held by the researcher and received a self-care booklet after CABG. Afterwards, participants were randomly divided into two groups of intervention and control. The intervention group received self-care education for four weeks after the surgery through a “Telegram Group”. Subjects of both study groups filled the questionnaires again after six weeks. Data analysis was performed with SPSS version 21 using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: Both study groups were homogenous regarding demographic characteristics. According to the results of paired t-test, quality of life and its dimensions increased in both intervention and control groups after the intervention. On the other hand, results of independent t-test, used to compare the study groups, revealed lower quality of life in the intervention group before the test and no statistically significant difference between the groups after the test. Conclusion: Although the quality of life was at a lower level in the intervention group before the tests, the post intervention quality of life increased in this study group so that reached the mean quality of life of the control group. It seems that education in any form could improve the quality of life. Keywords: self-care education, approach, hospital routine, social networks, quality of life, coronary artery bypass graft