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The care performed by the caregivers of patients with heart failure exceeds their individual capabilities. Nurses, other healthcare providers, and health policy makers may use the findings of this study to develop more effective programs to address these challenges and to provide more effective support.Sociocultural factors and perspectives were the primary factors affecting the caregiving experiences of participants in this study. Improved understanding of these factors and perspectives will help healthcare providers develop and implement suitable intervention programs for caregivers. Healthcare professionals should develop context-based intervention programs to promote caregiver capabilities and encourage caregivers to participate to facilitate the caregiving roles of caregivers.

Background:Heart failure is incurable disease and patients often have an ongoing decline once diagnosed. The symptoms of heart failure may impair the ability of patient to perform activities of daily living. As heart failure progresses, patients normally increase their reliance on family caregivers.Aims:This paper explored the informational needs and related problems of family caregivers of heart failure patients as a part of the findings of a study exploring experiences of family caregivers in the caregiving situation.Setting and Design:Using a qualitative design, 19 family caregivers from three educational hospitals in Isfahan, Iran, were recruited.Materials and Methods:Participants were selected by purposive sampling. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed concurrently.Results:Four major themes were emerged from the analysis of the transcripts: “Lack of care-related knowledge”, “Inaccessibility to responsible source of information”, “Lack of guidance from healthcare team” and “caring with ambiguity due to unpredictable nature of the disease”. Caregivers believed that they did not have the basic knowledge related to disease and medication administration. They received little guidance and support from the health care team on the caregiving roles. They experienced high level of ambiguity and stress in caregiving tasks due to lack of care-related knowledge and unpredictable nature of disease.Conclusion:The care, which was performed by the caregivers of HF patients, is beyond of their knowledge, capabilities, and resources. Nurses and other healthcare providers can use the findings of this study to develop effective educational and supportive programs to facilitate these needs.

Background: Infertility is a multi-aspect problem; it can cause major disturbances with emotional, social and psychological consequences including loss of life satisfaction. Spirituality is considered as an important source for individuals to adapt with stressful life events. Objectives: The current study aimed to determine the relationship between spiritual well-being and life satisfaction in females with infertility. Methods: After explaining the study goals to the subjects and attaining their written consents, the present cross-sectional corelational study was conducted on 190 females with infertility referred to Isfahan fertility and infertility center, Isfahan, Iran. The subjects were selected through a convenience random sampling method in three months by the satisfaction with life scale (SWLS) and spiritual well-being scale (SWBS) through face to face interview in 2013. Data were collected and then analyzed by SPSS ver. 17. Descriptive statistical methods (frequency distribution, mean, variance and standard deviation tables) and analytical statistical methods (Pearson correlation test, Spearman correlation coefficients, one-way ANOVA and T-test) were used. Results:The results of the study indicated a direct relationship between the scores of life satisfaction and religious dimension of spiritual well-being (r = 0.375, P < 0.001), as well as the score of existential dimension of spiritual well-being (r = 0.732, P < 0.001), and the overall score of spiritual well-being (r = 0.643, P < 0.001). The score of existential dimension had a closer relationship with that of life satisfaction, compared to the score of religious dimension and the overall score of spiritual well-being. Conclusions: The present study showed that people with higher spiritual well-being had a higher life satisfaction. Since infertility has numerous social and psychological complications and consequences, which can lead to lower life satisfaction, the medical staff can increase spiritual well-being and life satisfaction in females with infertility problems by taking proper measures and actions.