Barbara Riegel, Ryan Quinn, Karen B Hirschman, Gladys Thomas, Rebecca Ashare, Michael A Stawnychy, Kathryn H Bowles, Subhash Aryal, Joyce W Wald
{"title":"Health Coaching Improves Outcomes of Informal Caregivers of Adults With Chronic Heart Failure: A Randomized Controlled Trial.","authors":"Barbara Riegel, Ryan Quinn, Karen B Hirschman, Gladys Thomas, Rebecca Ashare, Michael A Stawnychy, Kathryn H Bowles, Subhash Aryal, Joyce W Wald","doi":"10.1161/CIRCHEARTFAILURE.123.011475","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Caring for someone with heart failure takes an emotional and physical toll. Engaging in self-care may decrease stress and improve the health of informal caregivers. We conducted a randomized controlled trial testing the efficacy of a virtual health coaching intervention, compared with health information alone, on the self-care, stress, coping, and health status of heart failure caregivers.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We enrolled 250 caregivers providing care at least 8 hours/week, reporting poor self-care, and able to use technology. All received a tablet device programmed with websites providing vetted information on heart failure and caregiving. Half were randomized to also receive 10 synchronous support sessions virtually with a health coach over 6 months. Data on self-care, stress, coping, and health status were collected at baseline and 3 and 6 months. Linear mixed-effects models were used to assess the interaction between time and treatment group.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The sample was majority female (85.2%), White (62.2%), spouses (59.8%), and aged 55±13.6 years. Many were employed full time (41.8%). They had been caring for the patient 8 hours/day for a median of 3.25 years. In the intention-to-treat analysis, caregivers who received the health coach intervention had statistically and clinically greater improvement across 6 months compared with the control group in the primary outcome of self-care maintenance (5.05±1.99; <i>P</i>=0.01) and stress (-4.50±1.00; <i>P</i><0.0001). Self-care neglect declined significantly (-0.65±0.32; <i>P</i>=0.04), but the difference between the treatment arms disappeared when the results were adjusted for multiple comparisons. Mental health status improved statistically but not clinically (3.35±1.61; <i>P</i>=0.04). Active coping improved in both groups but not significantly more in the intervention group (<i>P</i>=0.10). Physical health status was unchanged (<i>P</i>=0.27).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This virtual health coaching intervention was effective in improving self-care and stress in heart failure caregivers.</p>","PeriodicalId":10196,"journal":{"name":"Circulation: Heart Failure","volume":" ","pages":"e011475"},"PeriodicalIF":7.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11244754/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Circulation: Heart Failure","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCHEARTFAILURE.123.011475","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/6/21 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CARDIAC & CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEMS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Caring for someone with heart failure takes an emotional and physical toll. Engaging in self-care may decrease stress and improve the health of informal caregivers. We conducted a randomized controlled trial testing the efficacy of a virtual health coaching intervention, compared with health information alone, on the self-care, stress, coping, and health status of heart failure caregivers.
Methods: We enrolled 250 caregivers providing care at least 8 hours/week, reporting poor self-care, and able to use technology. All received a tablet device programmed with websites providing vetted information on heart failure and caregiving. Half were randomized to also receive 10 synchronous support sessions virtually with a health coach over 6 months. Data on self-care, stress, coping, and health status were collected at baseline and 3 and 6 months. Linear mixed-effects models were used to assess the interaction between time and treatment group.
Results: The sample was majority female (85.2%), White (62.2%), spouses (59.8%), and aged 55±13.6 years. Many were employed full time (41.8%). They had been caring for the patient 8 hours/day for a median of 3.25 years. In the intention-to-treat analysis, caregivers who received the health coach intervention had statistically and clinically greater improvement across 6 months compared with the control group in the primary outcome of self-care maintenance (5.05±1.99; P=0.01) and stress (-4.50±1.00; P<0.0001). Self-care neglect declined significantly (-0.65±0.32; P=0.04), but the difference between the treatment arms disappeared when the results were adjusted for multiple comparisons. Mental health status improved statistically but not clinically (3.35±1.61; P=0.04). Active coping improved in both groups but not significantly more in the intervention group (P=0.10). Physical health status was unchanged (P=0.27).
Conclusions: This virtual health coaching intervention was effective in improving self-care and stress in heart failure caregivers.
期刊介绍:
Circulation: Heart Failure focuses on content related to heart failure, mechanical circulatory support, and heart transplant science and medicine. It considers studies conducted in humans or analyses of human data, as well as preclinical studies with direct clinical correlation or relevance. While primarily a clinical journal, it may publish novel basic and preclinical studies that significantly advance the field of heart failure.