Psychosocial, Clinical, and Knowledge-Based Factors Associated with Self-Care in Heart Failure: A Cross-Sectional Study.

aimThis study examined cross-sectional associations between sociodemographic, clinical, behavioral, knowledge-based, and psychological factors and three behavioral scales of heart failure (HF) self-care: Maintenance, Symptom Perception, and Management. Self-Care Confidence was examined as a separate 10-item outcome.

methodsThis cross-sectional study recruited 516 consecutive adults with confirmed HF at two tertiary-care HF clinics in northern Jordan between May and November 2025. Self-care was assessed using the SCHFI v7.2, HF knowledge using the AHFKT, and anxiety and depression using the HADS. Separate multivariable ordinary least-squares regression models estimated adjusted associations with Maintenance, Symptom Perception, Management, and Confidence. Association-rule mining was used to identify descriptive co-occurrence profiles.

resultsMedian SCHFI scores were 50.00 for Maintenance, 43.48 for Symptom Perception, and 51.52 for Management. All four regression models included 516 participants and showed limited explanatory performance (adjusted R

conclusionsMost participants had scores below 70 across the three behavioral scales. Higher HF knowledge was associated with higher scores across self-care maintenance, symptom perception, and self-care management, and higher HADS depression was associated with lower self-care confidence, whereas HADS anxiety was positively associated with self-care confidence; education, smoking, and prior HF admission showed further scale-specific cross-sectional associations.