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Aim. This study was conducted to determine the effect of instrumental music on sleep in patients admitted to the coronary care unit (CCU). Background. Poor quality sleep, as a distressing situation, can aggravate myocardial ischemia and infarction. The music as a cheap, and noninvasive approach with a slow rhythm, monotonous and repetitive, may have inducing-sleep or relaxation effect. Method. The present study was a clinical trial conducted in 2014. The samples consisted of 72 patients with acute coronary syndrome admitted to coronary care unit of hospitals affiliated with Tehran University of Medical Sciences. They were selected using the simple random sampling method and divided into experimental (n=36) and control (n=36) group. The quality of sleep was measured in the beginning of hospitalization and three days after admision, and the quantity of sleep was measured all the three days using the Pittsburgh sleep quality index and the sleep log quantity indices in experimental and control group. The intervention was implemented in the form of playing instrumental music in headphones since the first night of hospitalization for a three-night time span (45 minutes a night) in the beginning of the patients’ sleep. Data were analyzed by SPSS software, version 16, using descriptive and inferential statistics (chi-square, fisher's exact test, independent samples T test). Findings. According to the findings, the mean change in the sleep quality score, before and after intervention, and sleep quantity at the three nights of hospitalization were significantly different between experimental and control group (p<0.0001). Conclusion. The instrumental music can be effective in improving patients’ sleep quality and quantity. Therefore, nurses can benefit from this non-pharmacological method in their daily care to improve their patients’ sleep.

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Aim. This study aimed at investigating the effect of education based on illness perception on self-care behaviors of patients with heart failure.

Background. Heart failure is the final outcome of most cardiovascular diseases, reducing patients’ self-care behaviors as a chronic condition. Changing illness perception of patients with heart failure about the disease is a way to improve the self-care behaviors in these patients.

Method. An experimental design was used to conduct the study. Seventy and six patients with heart failure who admitted to hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences and were eligible to participate in the study was recruited in 2014 and were randomly divided into intervention and control group. The intervention group attended in three educational sessions and received cell phone follow-up for 8 weeks. The control group received conventional treatment. The self-care behaviors was compared in both groups before, and eight weeks after the intervention. The data were analyzed by SPSS-16 software.

Findings. There was no statistical significant difference between demographic variables of two groups. Self-care behaviors in the intervention group increased after the intervention when compared with the control group (p<0.0001). In the experimental group, the mean score of self-care behaviors after the intervention was significantly higher than mean score before intervention (p<0.0001).

Conclusion. The results showed that education based on illness perception affects self-care behaviors in patients with heart failure. It is suggested as an effective method to promote the self-care behaviors in these patients.