defined
as a patient’s subjective perception of the effects of
heart failure and its treatment on his or her daily
life,24 was assessed using the Minnesota Living With
Heart Failure Questionnaire.25,26 This disease-specific
instrument was developed to assess HRQOL of
patients with heart failure.25 The questionnaire consists
of 21 items with 6 response options ranging
from 0 (no impact on HRQOL) to 5 (most negative
impact on HRQOL). The total score is calculated by
summing the ratings of all items; higher scores indicate
poorer HRQOL. The possible total score is from
0 to 105. The measure has acceptable reliability and
validity.26-28 In our study, the Cronbach α was .91 at
baseline and .93 at 3 months.