Heart Failure
Conditions
Keywords
Heart failure education, Group education sessions, District hospital clinics, Rwanda
Brief summary
In Rwanda, patients with heart failure may have low health education about their condition. Heart failure care requires active patient involvement. Self-care of heart failure requires healthy lifestyle, attention to symptoms, proper action when new symptoms develop. However, many patients may choose to stop taking medications when they are feeling well, or disregard new symptoms when they develop and delaying care until their condition is more severe. Educating patients in self-care for heart failure can be achieved by clinical staff with the support of patient handbooks or flip books. Self-care education materials have been developed by the research team in Haiti and have been adapted for Rwanda. This study will use a cluster, stepped wedge design. Patients are already in clusters based on their health facility. The order of implementation will be randomized by the cluster. The primary outcome is heart failure knowledge assessed pre- and post-intervention through a structured survey.
Interventions
OTHERHF Education
The non-communicable disease clinic nurse educator will deliver the education. An illustrated flip book to guide the education. Participants will be given a simplified handout summarizing key educational objectives. These educational tools are translated in Kinyarwanda.
Sponsors
Boston Medical Center
Inshuti Mu Buzima, Rwanda
Study design
Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
SEQUENTIAL
Primary purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
NONE
Intervention model description
A hybrid type 1 effectiveness-implementation design will be used to test the effect of an educational intervention on Self-Care of HF knowledge, HF clinical status and other clinical outcomes while observing and collecting implementation outcomes. Specifically, a cluster, stepped-wedge (non randomized) trial that will test the effect of an educational intervention will be conducted.
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
10 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Participants living with heart failure followed at non-communicable disease clinics across three district hospitals (DHs) i- Butaro, Kirehe, and Rwinkwavu * Able to provide informed consent; for minors, able to provide assent with parent or caregiver consent. * Pediatric participants must be aged ≥10 years; consent will be obtained from a parent or caregiver, with age-appropriate assent from the child.
Exclusion criteria
* Unable to provide informed consent
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Self-care of Heart Failure (HF) | Baseline, 4 weeks, 3 months, 6 months | This outcome will be assessed with the Self-care of Heart Failure Index (SCHFI). which has subcategories for behaviors, self-monitoring activities and symptom recognition, behaviors based on recognized symptoms, and confidence in behaviors. The SCHFI is a 38-question survey and each question has a 5-point Likert scale response(1= strongly disagree, 5= strongly agree). Total scores can range from 38-190, and higher scores are more favorable. |
Countries
Rwanda
Contacts
CONTACTGene F Kwan, MD MPH
PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORGene F Kwan, MD MPH
Boston Medical Center
Outcome results
None listed