OBJECTIVE: To identify the level of quality of life of heart failure patients; the patients' degree of heart failure; the hart failure patients' opinion on their current health status in comparison with one year earlier. METHODS: The sample was composed of 30 heart failure patients attended at an outpatient clinic of a general hospital in Taboão da Serra - SP, Brazil. The Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) was used for data collection. RESULTS: The study results permitted the identification of the level of quality of life in different dimensions: role-physical (08); role-emotional (09); physical functioning (22); general health (34); bodily pain (39); social functioning (39); vitality (47) and mental health (53). CONCLUSION: This study can contribute to improve nursing care delivery to heart failure patients to the extent that it highlights the limitations these persons experience, as well as how they influence their normal way of life.
Quality of life; Heart failure, congestive; Chronic disease
