Purpose
This study examined the relationships of health literacy, physical activity, and grip strength with self-care compliance in older male patients with chronic heart failure.
Methods
A cross-sectional descriptive was conducted, and 106 older male outpatients with chronic HF were recruited from a veterans’ hospital in Seoul. Data were collected from February 7, 2022 to April 10, 2022 using a self-reported questionnaire and were analyzed using SPSS/WIN 23.0.
Results
The average age of the participants was 76.3±4.5 years, and the average time elapsed since the heart failure diagnosis was 3.22±2.01 years. The mean self-care compliance score was 42.21±6.03 out of 60 points. In the univariate analysis, grip strength was not significantly correlated with self-care compliance. The hierarchical regression analysis indicated that health literacy (β=.33, p<.001), physical activity (β=.32, p=.001), and alcohol drinking (β=-.28, p=.001) had statistically significant effects on self-care compliance, collectively explaining 34% of the variance (adjusted R² =.34, F=12.00, p<.001).
Conclusion
The study highlights the necessity of periodically assessing and considering health literacy and the level of physical activity when developing educational strategies to promote self-care compliance among older male patients with heart failure in outpatient nursing practice.

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of use of a horticultural program on the cognitive function, activities of daily living, and hand grip strength of institutionalized dementia patients. METHOD: Twenty three study participants completed a five week protocol comprised of one week of baseline and four weeks of treatment. The study design was a one group repeated measurement study. For the first and fifth week of the study period, data was collected with 3 instruments: Korean Version of Hasegawa Dementia Scale (HDS-K), Katz's ADL index, hand grip strength. Data analysis was conducted by SPSS version 10.0. RESULTS: Total HDS-K score(p=.000), Activities of daily living(p=.013) and hand grip strength(p=.001) was significantly improved after treatment compared to the baseline. CONCLUSION: The horticultural program was effective for improving cognitive function, ADL and hand grip strength of the dementia patients. Repeated studies utilizing a control group are needed, using various durations, plants and processes, to confirm these results and to standardize the horticultural program protocol.