{"title":"Health behavior and disease self-management indicators in patients with cardiovascular diseases using a health app: Findings from an RCT.","authors":"Sonia Lippke, Luisa Korte, Vinayak Anand Kumar, Andreas Fach, Tiara Ratz","doi":"10.3934/publichealth.2025015","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Prevention of acute cardiovascular events in patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) requires promoting health-protective behaviors (e.g., physical activity) and reducing health-compromising behaviors (e.g., sitting). Digital interventions addressing health behavior offer great potential. Based on a multiple behavior change theory, an intervention in the form of a digital health application (app) was evaluated in a pilot trial, testing the following hypotheses (H): H1: Health behaviors (physical activity, sitting) and disease self-management (self-care maintenance, self-care confidence) are closely related; H2: changes in health behaviors and disease self-management indicators over time (T0 to T1) are more pronounced in the intervention group (IG, app users) than in the control group (CG); H3: within the IG, changes in systolic and diastolic blood pressure indicate a positive trajectory.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A 12-week randomized controlled trial (RCT) was conducted with two measurement points. The IG received an app addressing self-management and health behavior change. A total of <i>N</i> = 40 CVD patients were randomized equally to the CG (45% women; mean age = 60.6 years) and the IG (35% women; mean age = 61.5 years).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Findings support H1 with correlations between behaviors (<i>r</i> = -0.66-0.79) and disease self-management (<i>r</i> = -0.06-0.70). H2 was also partially supported, with significant improvements over time in self-management indicators, especially self-care maintenance, in the IG (Eta² = 0.35; <i>p</i> < 0.001). H3 could not be confirmed as no significant changes were found.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This study provides evidence that an app addressing different behavior change techniques (BCTs) can help to manage CVD by promoting health-protective behaviors and preventing health-compromising behaviors. Taking different behaviors into account may increase the effectiveness of behavioral intervention, thereby improving individual and public health. Replications with larger samples and more objective measures are needed.</p>","PeriodicalId":45684,"journal":{"name":"AIMS Public Health","volume":"12 1","pages":"233-258"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1000,"publicationDate":"2025-02-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11999809/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"AIMS Public Health","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3934/publichealth.2025015","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"HEALTH CARE SCIENCES & SERVICES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Prevention of acute cardiovascular events in patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) requires promoting health-protective behaviors (e.g., physical activity) and reducing health-compromising behaviors (e.g., sitting). Digital interventions addressing health behavior offer great potential. Based on a multiple behavior change theory, an intervention in the form of a digital health application (app) was evaluated in a pilot trial, testing the following hypotheses (H): H1: Health behaviors (physical activity, sitting) and disease self-management (self-care maintenance, self-care confidence) are closely related; H2: changes in health behaviors and disease self-management indicators over time (T0 to T1) are more pronounced in the intervention group (IG, app users) than in the control group (CG); H3: within the IG, changes in systolic and diastolic blood pressure indicate a positive trajectory.
Methods: A 12-week randomized controlled trial (RCT) was conducted with two measurement points. The IG received an app addressing self-management and health behavior change. A total of N = 40 CVD patients were randomized equally to the CG (45% women; mean age = 60.6 years) and the IG (35% women; mean age = 61.5 years).
Results: Findings support H1 with correlations between behaviors (r = -0.66-0.79) and disease self-management (r = -0.06-0.70). H2 was also partially supported, with significant improvements over time in self-management indicators, especially self-care maintenance, in the IG (Eta² = 0.35; p < 0.001). H3 could not be confirmed as no significant changes were found.
Conclusions: This study provides evidence that an app addressing different behavior change techniques (BCTs) can help to manage CVD by promoting health-protective behaviors and preventing health-compromising behaviors. Taking different behaviors into account may increase the effectiveness of behavioral intervention, thereby improving individual and public health. Replications with larger samples and more objective measures are needed.
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