Comparisons of Demographic and Health Variables. Pearson
correlation analysis did not indicate a significant relationship between
age and confidence in self-management of AF (p = .468) or BMI and
confidence and AF self-management (p = .5).
Independent samples t-tests were used to assess differences in CAFS
scores between different demographic, health, and AF specific variables.
Interestingly, results indicated no significant differences between mean
scores for women (m = 29.7, SD = 8.8) and men (m = 28.7, SD = 8.7),t (100.394) = -.608, p = .545. No significant differences
were detected between those with
CHA2DS2VASc scores of two or more and
those with one or less t (48.1) = -.602, p = .550. There
were also no significant differences between those with past diagnoses
of MDD (m = 27.5, SD = 8.4) and those without (m = 29.3, SD = 8.8),t (15.7) = .743, p = .468. However, there was a significant
difference between scores for those with past diagnoses of GAD (m =
25.3, SD = 6.6) and those without (m = 29, SD = 9.0), t (31.2) =
2.49, p = .018, likely indicating that those with anxiety have
less confidence in self-management of AF than those without anxiety.
Related to procedural treatment of AF, an independent samples t-test
suggested no significant difference in confidence scores between those
patients who had undergone an ablation for AF management (m = 30.2, SD =
7.0) and those who had not (m = 28.7, SD =9), t (103.3) = -.945,p = .347. There was also no significant difference in confidence
scores between those who had undergone an LAA occlusion (m = 26.2, SD =
3.1) than those who had not (m = 29.5, SD = 8.7), t (7.59) = 1.98,p = .085. Interestingly, there was a significant difference in
confidence scores between those who had undergone a cardioversion for AF
(m = 32, SD = 7.2) and those who had not (m = 27.4, SD = 9.0), t(104.4)
= -.297, p = .004), suggesting those who had undergone cardioversion had
significantly more confidence in self-management of AF.
Related to medication for AF management, independent samples t-tests
indicated that there were no significant differences between those
patients prescribed anticoagulants (m = 29.8, SD = 8.6) and those that
were not (m = 26.6, SD = 8.9), t (36.0) = -1.58, p = .123,
or between those who were prescribed beta-blockers (m = 29.4, SD = 9.0)
and those that were not (m = 28.2, SD = 8.6), t(63.6) = -.659, p = .513.
Interestingly, there was a significant difference between those who were
prescribed anti-arrhythmic medications (m = 32.7, SD = 7.9) and those
that were not (m = 26.7, SD = 8.6), t(97.0) = -3.767, p <
.001, suggesting that individuals prescribed anti-arrhythmic medications
for AF had greater confidence in self-management than individuals
without anti-arrhythmic medications.
Comparison with Quality of Life . Lastly, a simple linear
regression analysis was used to assess the ability of the CALM total
scores to predict AF quality of life using AFEQT total scores (Figure
1). Results of this analysis suggested that CALM total scores predicted
increased AFEQT total scores (r2 = .142,p < .001). In other words, greater confidence in AF
self-management predicted better quality of life with AF, with 14.2% of
variance in quality of life being explained by confidence in AF
self-management.