1.     To understand the changes of symptoms distress, 6-minute walk and quality of life between intervention and control group.

2.     To understand the differences of health utilizations, readmission and emergency visit, between intervention and control group.Setting:

Two cardiac general wards of one educational hospital in Taipei City, TaiwanParticipants:

Patients admitted to two cardiac general wards diagnosed with heart failure and randomized to Heart Failure Self-Care Program (n=14) or control group (n=13).Measurement:

Data were collected by one study investigator while admission and three months after discharge. Measurements were symptom distress, 6-minute walk test and quality of life (using SF-36, Taiwan version). Health utilizations, readmission and emergency visit, were collected by reviewing medical records at third month after subject discharge.Results:

Twenty-seven completed this program, male and married subjects were the majority of HFSC and control groups, mean age 72.43±10.26 and 70.46±11.83 year-old respectively. There were no differences in age, married status, cormobidity, New York Heart Association (NYHA) Classification and Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction (LVEF) between two groups. There were significant differences in the symptom distress (Z = - 2.709, P < 0.01), 6-minute walk test (Z = - 2.890, P < 0.01), quality of life (using SF-36, Taiwan version, Z = - 2.098, P < 0.05), and readmission (Z = - 2.484, P < 0.05) between HFSC and control groups, but no significant differences in emergency visit between groups (Z = - 1.504, P = 0.137).