Assessing new ways of delivering heart health checks in rural populations

Participants will be allocated to a group based on their preference and postcode, with further stratification of the sample occurring using age, gender and health literacy to provide a balanced allocation to each group. The groups are Home Test Group and Pharmacy Group. Home Test Group. The home test group will receive a self-administered Heart Health Check Kit (H2Check-Kit). Participants will follow the co-designed instruction manual to perform the assessment, then return the test devices through reply-paid mail. The H2Check-Kit has been designed to be self-administered in a home setting and contains a co-designed instruction manual on how to administer the test, a Heart Health Check (HHC) Assessment Form to record metrics, a wrist blood pressure monitor (for blood pressure assessment), a CardioChek analyser (for blood glucose and cholesterol assessment), a CardioChek strip, a self-triggering lance, a 40 microlitres (µL) capillary tube, cotton wool, band aids, alcohol wipes, biosafe bottle, biosafe bag, Completion Survey, Feelings Check Survey (pre-assessment outcome), and a prepaid return envelope. The wrist blood pressure monitor is a large-format, easy-to-use device that fits intuitively to the wrist and takes a measurement with a one-button press. Participants will be instructed on the best practice for undertaking a blood pressure measurement via the instruction manual. The CardioChek analyser is a finger-prick test requiring a drop of blood to be deposited onto the test strip inserted into the CardioChek analyser for measurement. The finger-prick is self-administered using a standard self-triggering lancing device in the same routine way people with diabetes perform blood glucose tests. The drop of blood is collected from the finger using a standard 40µL capillary tube and used to deposit the blood onto the test strip. The completed HHC assessment form, Feelings Check Survey (pre-assessment outcome), and Completion survey, will be returned to the research team using the prepaid envelope. Pharmacy Group The pharmacy-based group will attend a specified local pharmacy and receive a pharmacist-administered Heart Health Check Kit (H2Check-Kit). Pharmacies will administer the HHC using the H2Check-Kit in a private room to ensure participant privacy and will manage their H2Check-Kit in accordance with the safe handling protocol. The pharmacist will record the participants HHC assessment data in the HHC assessment form. The completed HHC assessment form, Feelings Check Survey (pre-assessment outcome), and Completion survey will be collected from the pharmacy by the research team. Both Groups It is estimated that it will take up to 30 min to complete all surveys and the HHC assessment in both settings. Assessment outcomes will be received by post OR the participants will provide their assessment data via a free telephone service and immediately receive their assessment outcome AND their assessment outcome will be received by post. Adherence will be determined by the number of assessment outcomes received. Behaviour change resources will be received by post, including recommendation to visit their General Practitioner if intermediate or high risk is determined. The behaviour change resources are being designed specifically for this study and based off resources available from the Country Heart Attach Prevention Project's Cardiac Rehab Online platform - https://www.chapproject.com.au/sub-projects/cardiac-rehab-online/ They will focus on smoking cessation, blood pressure and cholesterol management (as appropriate).