Living Arrangements Modify the Relationship Between Depressive Symptoms and Self-care in Patients With Heart Failure.
Kyoung Suk Lee, Terry A Lennie, Ju Young Yoon and 2 others
PMID 26938509WHAT IT FOUND
In heart failure patients living alone, more depressive symptoms were linked with poorer monitoring and responding to worsening symptoms.
In those living with someone, depression was not linked with self-care. Ask about living alone when assessing depression.
Key findings
01Among patients living alone, more depressive symptoms were linked with poorer daily symptom monitoring and poorer response to worsening symptoms.
02Among patients living with someone, depressive symptoms were not linked with daily symptom monitoring, response to worsening symptoms, or confidence in self-care.
03Across the whole sample, depressive symptoms had only weak negative links with daily symptom monitoring and confidence in self-care.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The data were cross-sectional, so the study cannot show that living alone, depression, or self-care caused one another. Living alone versus living with someone was used as a rough proxy for social support, but the study did not measure how many people were in the household or what actual support was given. The study did not ask why patients lived alone, so people who chose to live alone may differ from those who lived alone because they lacked social ties. Only English-speaking patients without obvious cognitive impairment and without some serious comorbid conditions were included, so findings may not apply to other heart failure populations.
Declared interests
The authors reported no conflicts of interest. One parent study was funded by NIH/NINR.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that living with someone protects self-care or that depression is harmless in shared households. The study measured associations at one time and used living arrangement as a rough proxy for support, not the amount or quality of support received.