Exploring well-being and self-care from the heart failure patient perspective for sustainable living

Abstract

Objectives: to identify well-being and self-care strategies from the perspective of patients with heart failure, highlighting practices that promote a sustainable and healthy life. Methods: qualitative, descriptive research, carried out between November/2022 and March/2023, through semi-structured interviews, supplemented by records from physical and electronic medical records, with patients treated at the heart failure outpatient service of a university hospital in Rio de Janeiro, analyzed through lexicographic textual analysis, using Descending Hierarchical Classification. Results: after processing the text corpus, six classes were generated, grouped into two distinct thematic chunks (non-pharmacological strategies and practices for health promotion) and (socioeconomic and educational challenges for self-care). Final Considerations: it is urgent to take actions that increase health literacy among this population, promoting greater autonomy in self-care and improving well-being. Actions in this sense must consider the social and economic determinants and the individual needs of each patient.