PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of an individualized cardiac health education on self-care behavior and serum cholesterol levels patients with coronary artery disease. METHODS Twenty-two patients in the intervention group and 22 in the control group were assigned randomly in this study. The intervention group received an individualized cardiac health education program which consisted of four different sessions for a total of four sessions. Specifically, two sessions occurred during the patients' hospitalization with a third session at the time of discharge with a fourth session scheduled via telephone one week post discharge. Data were collected through a questionnaire for self-care behavior and a blood test for total cholesterol at the time of admission and the two weeks after discharge. The questionnaire for self-care behavior was a standardized instrument and serum cholesterol was measured by Accutrend GC (Roche, Germany). RESULTS Self-care behavior scores included diet, medication, exercise, risk factor, blood pressure measurement, and visits to hospital were significantly more in the experimental group compared to the control group. CONCLUSION The above findings indicate that the individualized cardiac health education was effective in increasing of self-care behavior.
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