Use of the Teach-Back Method in Adults with Cardiovascular Disease: A Scoping Review

Background: Teach-Back is a structured communication strategy increasingly used in patient education to enhance understanding and self-management, particularly among people with complex chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease. Aim: To explore and map how Teach-Back has been applied in adults with cardiovascular disease and to describe outcomes assessed in the literature. Methods: A scoping review was conducted following the JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis and the PRISMA-ScR checklist. MEDLINE/PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, and Scopus databases were searched up to January 2026. Studies involving adult patients with cardiovascular disease receiving Teach-Back-based interventions were included. Data were charted and synthesized descriptively, focusing on intervention characteristics, delivery contexts, and reported outcomes. Results: Eighteen studies were included, with heart failure being the most frequently investigated condition. Teach-Back was delivered across hospital, outpatient, and home-care settings, often as part of multicomponent educational or transitional-care interventions. Outcomes were grouped into five domains: knowledge and understanding, self-care and adherence, clinical outcomes, healthcare utilization, and patient-reported outcomes. Improvements were most consistently reported for knowledge, understanding, self-care, and adherence, whereas findings on readmissions and other clinical outcomes were less homogenous. Conclusions: Teach-Back appears particularly relevant for cardiovascular nursing practice at points of high-risk communication, including discharge, early post-discharge follow-up, and self-management reinforcement. As a low-resource strategy, it may support nurses in verifying patient understanding and reducing misinterpretation during care transitions. Future studies should standardize delivery, training, fidelity monitoring, documentation, and outcome measurement.