The effectiveness of planned discharge education on health knowledge and beliefs in patients with acute myocardial infarction: a randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Background: To the best of our knowledge, no other studies investigated acute myocardial infarction patients' beliefs and knowledge level after the discharge education. Aims: The aim of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of planned discharge education on the beliefs and knowledge levels of CVD risk factors, medication compliance, dietary compliance, and individual follow-up in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Methods: A double-blind randomized controlled study was carried out with 100 AMI patients. All participants were randomly assigned to the intervention (n = 50) and control groups (n = 50). The first evaluation of all participants in both groups was on the day of discharge. Both groups were re-evaluated after 4 weeks. Patients' beliefs on medication, diet, and individual monitoring were assessed by the Beliefs about Medication Compliance Scale (BMCS), the Beliefs about Dietary Compliance Scale (BDCS), and the Beliefs about Individual Follow-up Scale (BIFS), respectively. The knowledge of CVD risk factors was questioned with the Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors Knowledge Level (CARRF-KL) Scale. Results: The mean age of the patients was 59.10 ± 9.38 years in the intervention group and 58.86 ± 9.19 in the control group. After the planned discharge education, beliefs and knowledge levels of CVD risk factors, medication compliance, dietary compliance, and individual follow-up were significantly increased compared with the control group. Conclusion: Planned discharge education had a positive effect on the knowledge level of cardiovascular diseases risk factors, drug compliance, nutritional compliance, and individual follow-up in patients with acute myocardial infarction.