PATIENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS ATRIAL FIBRILLATION IN AL-NASIRIYAH CITY

Background and aim: Attitude and knowledge of patients about their illness and its treatment are important factors for changing behavior and increasing compliance with treatment. So, this study is aimed at determining patients attitudes toward atrial fibrillation (AF) and anticoagulant medications. Also to know if there is a difference in patients attitudes according to their sociodemographic characteristics Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out at Al-Nasiriyah Heart Center in Al-Nasiriyah city from 13th October 2021 to 25th April 2022. Ninety AF patients were selected through purposive sampling. The instrument of the study that was used for data collection was adopted and modified depending on a previous study done in China(Xu et al., 2010). Written approval was obtained for using the questionnaire in the current study. The data were analyzed by using SPSS ver-20 and Microsoft Excel (2010) program. Results: 36.7 % of patients had a positive attitude toward AF and anticoagulation therapy with a significant difference in patients attitudes according to their educational level and their occupation. Conclusion: 57.8 % of patients were neutral in their responses toward AF (neither agree nor disagree). Patients with a high level of education had more positive than those with low education. Employer or retired patients were significantly improved attitudes than other patients.