Lifestyle of Patients with Atrial Fibrillation Following SelfManagement Interventions: a Randomized Clinical Trial

Introduction: Cardiovascular diseases are the most common cause of death in most countries, such as Iran. Cardiac arrhythmias, including Atrial Fibrillation (AF) comprise an important category of these diseases. During recent years, AF has become a serious medical condition. This study aimed to investigate the effect of selfmanagement interventions on the lifestyle of patients with AF. Methods: In this Randomized Clinical Trial study, 88 patients were selected and randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. The intervention group received selfmanagement interventions, including education and telephone followups. The data were collected using a demographic questionnaire and Walker’s healthpromoting lifestyle profile II, before the intervention and four and twelve weeks after the intervention. The significance level was considered to be 0.05. Results: The results showed a significant increase in the intervention group’s lifestyle mean score, four and twelve weeks after the intervention as compared with control group However, this increase was not similar in all the lifestyle dimensions. Conclusion: In conclusion, implementation of selfmanagement interventions could improve the lifestyle of the patients with Atrial Fibrillation. The results can help nurses to conduct selfmanagement interventions into such patients’ care plan and prevent many physical, psychological, and social problems that negatively affect patients and their lifestyle.