The Effects of Health Literacy Development Program on Self-Health Care Behaviors Among Post Cardiac Valve Surgery Patients
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Abstract
Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major public health problem and a leading cause of death. In 2024, Thailand reported over 250,000 cases and 40,000 deaths. Valvular heart disease requires continuous medical treatment, with surgical repair or replacement indicated when medication is no longer effective. While surgery can improve quality of life, sustaining these benefits relies on effective self-health care to prevent complications and hospital readmissions. This study examines how health literacy influences self-health care behaviors in patients with valvular heart disease.
Methods: A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 40 patients undergoing valve surgery for valvular heart disease at a tertiary hospital in Bangkok. Participants were randomly assigned to the experimental (n = 20) or control group (n = 20) by simple random allocation without replacement. The intervention was a researcher-developed health literacy program. Data were collected using a personal information form, a health literacy questionnaire, and a self-health care behavior questionnaire, with reliability coefficients of 0.73 and 0.81, respectively. Statistical analyses included the Independent Samples t-test, Paired t-test, Mann–Whitney U test, and Wilcoxon signed-rank test.
Results: Pre-intervention, self-health care behavior scores were similar between the experimental (Mean = 179.40, SD = 14.45) and control (Mean = 178.10, SD = 7.05) groups. Post-intervention, the experimental group’s score increased to a high level (Mean = 224.60, SD = 9.09) and was significantly higher than the control group (Mean = 180.75, SD = 7.59, p < 0.05).
Conclusions: The findings support that the health literacy development program can help patients improve their health literacy and self-health care behaviors more effectively than receiving standard nursing care alone. Implementing this program in patient care may contribute to reducing postoperative complications
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