Evaluating Frozen Strawberries as a Strategy for Thirst Management in Patients with Congestive Heart Failure (CHF)

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Thirst sensation in Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) patients is caused by diuretic administration and fluid consumption  limitation.  Unhandled thirst sensation leads to  a  disobedient  patient  in  fluid  consumption limitation   that   causes   the   patient   condition   to   worsen.   This   research   aimed   to   analyse   the   frozen strawberries administration's   effects   on   the   thirst   sensation   in   a   patient   with   CHF . MATERIAL AND METHOD: The  method  used  was  a  quasi-experiment  with  a  pre-test  and  post-test  control  group  design.  The number of respondents was 34 patients divided into two groups: 17 respondents in the intervention group and 17 respondents in  the  control  group.  The  sampling  technique  was  stratified  random  sampling  based  on  NYHA classification  in  the  respondents.  Frozen  strawberries  were  given  to  the  intervention  group,  while  ice  cubes  were given  to  the control group. All the data were  analyzed  using a t-test.RESULT:The results showed that the mean score of the thirst intensity of the intervention and control group was 4.44 and 2.35, respectively. The independent t-test of the mean difference of thirst intensity pre and post-test between the intervention and control groups was p=0.001.  According  to  the  paired  t-test  analysis,  the  thirst  intensity  score  between  pre-test  and  post-test  was p<0.001, from moderate to low thirst  intensity. CONCLUSION:Frozen  strawberries were statistically effective in reducing the thirst intensity in a patient with CHF.