The use of the 'Tum-Tum' mobile app had a positive influence on increasing self-care maintenance and self-care confidence scores in people with heart failure.
A statistically significant difference was observed in heart failure self-care maintenance scores between pre-intervention and post-intervention time points.
A statistically significant difference was observed in heart failure self-care confidence scores between pre-intervention and post-intervention time points.
The study sample consisted of 57 individuals with heart failure treated at a cardiology outpatient clinic in João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brazil.
The 'Tum-Tum' mobile application was evaluated as having potential to support educational strategies promoted by healthcare professionals regarding self-care for people with heart failure.
This research studied whether a mobile phone app called 'Tum-Tum' could help people with heart failure better manage their own health. Fifty-seven patients attending a heart clinic in Brazil used the app for 60 days, and researchers measured their self-care abilities before and after using it with a validated questionnaire called the Self-Care of Heart Failure Index. The group was mostly male (54.4%), with a median age of 60 years and a median of six years of formal education. The study found that after 60 days of using the app, participants showed statistically significant improvements in two important areas: their ability to maintain healthy behaviors related to heart failure (such as following prescribed treatments and healthy habits), and their confidence in managing their condition. These improvements suggest the app was effective at supporting patients in taking a more active role in their own care. This research suggests that mobile health applications like 'Tum-Tum' could be a useful tool for nurses and other healthcare professionals to extend patient education beyond clinic visits, potentially helping heart failure patients better manage their condition at home. However, because this was a single-group study without a comparison group, it is not possible to rule out other factors that may have contributed to the improvements observed.
Santos W, Sousa M, Almeida A, Almeida T, Freitas F, Gouveia B, et al.. (2026). Mobile application for self-care in people with heart failure: a quasi-experimental study.. Revista da Escola de Enfermagem da U S P. https://doi.org/10.1590/1980-220X-REEUSP-2025-0537en