Background:

Establishing the level of chronic cardiac inpatient empowerment is essential. By doing so, it is possible to identify groups with a lower level. It also provides a basis for designing effective strategies to improve their control over decision making and the actions that affect their health and wellness. The shortage of studies of this phenomenon for this particular population and context suggests that such patients are not receiving proper care.

Methods:

A prospective and descriptive study was carried out. A validated Spanish version of the Patient empowerment in long-term conditions scale was used. The survey has 47 items, grouped into three dimensions: Positive attitude and feeling of control, Knowledge in shared decision making, and Seeking information and sharing with other patients. It was distributed 24 hours before hospital discharge.

Results:

Twenty five questionnaires were collected (81%). The mean global empowerment score of the patients was 165.92 ± 20.9. The dimension Positive attitude and sense of control showed the lowest score, with a mean of 3.4 ± 0.5. An inverse weak relationship was found between the level of empowerment and age (rho = -0.240; p = 0.000) while a positive one was found with 10-year survival (rho = 0,316; p = 0.01).

Conclusion:

The level of empowerment of the patients in this study was medium-high. The strategies used to address the care of this population should focus on working on their attitude towards the disease and perceived control of the situation, and should be individualized according to age.