Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Dietary Assessments And Their Association With Psychological Factors, Inflammation, And Cardiovascular Health Outcomes, Junghee Kang

Theses and Dissertations--Nursing

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), a group of disorders of the heart and blood vessels, are the leading cause of death worldwide, causing one-third of deaths each year. Diet is one of the most important behavioral risk factors for CVD. The effects of behavioral risk factors, such as diet, may lead to increased blood pressure, increased blood glucose, raised blood lipids, and overweight and obesity. Inflammation contributes to the development of CVD and can be influenced by diet. Dietary assessment indices can measure diet quality from an individual's dietary intake by scoring food and nutrient intakes. However, the mediation effects of diet …

Responses To Symptoms Among Patients With Heart Failure, Chin-Yen Lin

Theses and Dissertations--Nursing

Patients with heart failure (HF) suffer from chronic and progressive symptoms. Failure to respond appropriately to escalating symptoms of HF causes a delay in seeking care, which results in worse symptom status, frequent rehospitalizations, and contributes to higher mortality. In order to enhance HF self-care, promote timely care-seeking, and improve outcomes, identification of factors that affect patients’ responses to symptoms and their decisions to seek care is essential. Thus, the purposes of this dissertation were to (1) identify factors associated with patients’ responses to worsening HF symptoms, and (2) determine the impact of responses to symptoms on outcomes in patients …

Caregivers’ Influence On Patients’ Heart Failure Self-Care, Hospital Readmission And Mortality, Linda Clements

Theses and Dissertations--Nursing

Background: Heart failure (HF) is a leading cause of hospitalization, readmissions, and death in the United States. Patients hospitalized for HF are at risk for readmission, in- hospital mortality, and early post-discharge death. In the United States, inpatient care has been estimated to cost $83,980 over the lifetime of each patient with HF. The majority of patients with HF depend on caregiver support for successful HF self-care, which is essential for optimal patient outcomes. Support from caregivers is thought to be important for better self-care, and lower readmission and mortality rates. Yet, there are few studies considering the influence of …

End-Of-Life Decision-Making In Patients With A Cardiac Device, Jessica Harman Thompson

Theses and Dissertations--Nursing

Heart failure (HF) is one of the top causes of mortality in the United States and globally. In order to combat the high mortality rates of this disease, medical technology, including internal cardioverter defibrillators (ICD) and left ventricular assist devices (LVAD), have become one of the most common treatments. Over the past 10 years the utilization of these cardiac devices has increased exponentially, which has created a new phenomenon of how we discuss death with patients who have one of these devices. The purpose of this dissertation is to increase understanding of the end-of-life decision making processes and current experiences …

Co-Morbid Symptoms Of Depression And Anxiety And Bio-Behavioral Response To Stress In Patients With Heart Failure, Abdullah S. Alhurani

Theses and Dissertations--Nursing

Heart failure (HF) is a major public health problem throughout the world. It accounts for one death certificate among nine in the United States. Heart failure and sudden death combined are responsible for the largest number of deaths in America. The total costs of HF in the United States are estimated to be $37 billion each year. Despite substantial medical and surgical advances related to treatment of HF, it remains a very costly condition with high mortality and morbidity rates. Although biological factors contribute to high morbidity and mortality in HF, there are many unexplored psychosocial factors that also likely …

Biobehavioral Influences Of Anxiety, Depression, And Hostility Symptoms On Health-Related Outcomes In Patients With Heart Failure, Lynn P. Roser

Theses and Dissertations--Nursing

The incidence of heart failure (HF) has increased each year as more people are living longer with heart disease and other chronic conditions. Recently, there has been much interest in the psychological dimensions of HF and the influence psychological symptoms have on the health outcomes (e.g., self-care, rehospitalization, mortality and quality of life) of patients living with HF. Patients with HF frequently experience symptoms of anxiety, depression, and hostility that may be associated with poor health outcomes. The purpose of this dissertation was to examine how psychological variables influence health outcomes of patients with HF, how psychological variables change over …

Symptom Assessment And Management In Patients With Heart Failure, Kyoung Suk Lee

Theses and Dissertations--Nursing

Patients with heart failure (HF) must monitor and recognize escalating symptoms to manage worsening HF in a timely manner. However, routine symptom monitoring is not commonly performed by this population.

Providing a symptom diary along with an education and counseling session may help HF patients promote symptom monitoring and interpretation. The accumulated information about changes in daily symptoms will allow patients to easily compare current symptom status to the past without depending on memory and can rapidly capture worsening HF. To date, few studies have tested the effect of a daily symptom diary.

The purpose of this dissertation was to …