Heart failure self-management : balancing between medical and psychosocial needs : evaluation of a cognitive-behavioural self-management group programme

Self-management plays an important role in dealing with chronic heart failure in day-to-day life. In the American ‘Chronic Disease Self-Management Programme’ (CDSMP) people learn to handle the medical, social and emotional consequences of their chronic disease. Effectiveness and applicability of this group programme was investigated in a randomized study on heart failure patients. The meetings (2.5 hours) every six weeks were presided by a trained pair, consisting of a specialized nurse and a heart failure patient. The programme turns out to be usable and effective in the short term. However, earlier shown long-term effects fail to appear. This can possibly be explained by differences in health care, where the CDSMP in its present form possibly adds too little to the existing health care offer for heart failure patients in the Netherlands.

This research was financially supported by the ‘Nederlandse Hartstichting’ and the ‘Profileringsfonds’ University Hospital Maastricht.