RNSystematic ReviewEuropean journal of cardiovascular nursing2025

Self-management interventions to improve health outcomes in youth living with congenital heart disease: a systematic review and narrative synthesis.

Ricardo J Loor-Torres, Maria B Mateo Chavez, Kasey Boehmer and 6 others

PMID 40605622

WHAT IT FOUND

Transition support programmes for young people with congenital heart disease did not show better hospitalization or reintervention results, but some improved self-management, transition readiness, and self-efficacy.

Key findings

01The only study that evaluated health outcomes found no significant differences between groups in hospitalization and reintervention.

02An included programme reported a moderate-to-large self-efficacy gain of 0.78, and another reported a small empowerment gain of 0.397.

03Mackie et al. found significant improvements in transition readiness and self-management as secondary outcomes, but did not provide enough data to calculate effect sizes.

STILL TO COME

How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs

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What it does not show

Only four studies were included, so the review cannot identify which intervention components worked. The interventions differed in delivery, provider, duration, and outcomes, so the reviewers could not combine them in a meta-analysis. Risk of bias varied: Tye had high risk because of no control group, high attrition, and missing data; Mackie had low risk; Bratt and Hwang had moderate risk. Only one study evaluated hospitalization and reintervention, and it did not show significant group differences. Mackie's significant secondary outcomes did not include enough data to calculate effect sizes. The review focused on self-efficacy-based programmes and may have excluded other valuable approaches. The eligible age range was 15 to 24 years, but the included patients were 16 to 19 years.

The easy way to misread this

Do not conclude that self-management programmes reduce hospitalization or reintervention in youth with congenital heart disease. Only one included study assessed those health outcomes, and it found no significant differences between groups.

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