D:REACH-HF acceptability

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  D:REACH-HF: Mixed-methods acceptability investigation.

• IRAS ID

  300423

• Contact name

  Hasnain Dalal

• Contact email

  H.Dalal@exeter.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  University of Exeter

• Duration of Study in the UK

  0 years, 4 months, 14 days

• Research summary

  Heart failure (HF) affects approximately one million UK adults and costs the NHS £2 billion per year. Cardiac rehabilitation (exercise and self-care programmes) improves quality of life and reduces hospital stays. However, less than 20% of HF patients participate, often due to difficulties accessing clinic-based rehabilitation.
  New HF guidelines suggest that cardiac rehabilitation should be delivered in a more personalised and accessible setting, such as the patient's home. The Rehabilitation Enablement in Chronic HF (REACH-HF) programme is a clinically effective home based cardiac rehabilitation programme being now being rolled-out in >10 NHS centres, using the paper manual. The programme has been well received by patients, care-givers and health-professionals, and requests for it to be in a digital format, e.g. accessed via a website or app led to the creation of a digital version of the REACH-HF programme (D:REACH-HF) to improve patient choice of, and accessibility to, cardiac rehabilitation.
  This current study aims to explore the feasibility and acceptability of the D:REACH-HF intervention to patients with heart failure, their caregivers where applicable, and to healthcare professionals delivering D:REACH-HF. The study will conduct interviews with patients with heart failure (and their caregivers where available) about their perspectives on and use of the D:REACH-HF intervention. In addition interviews with healthcare professionals trained in the delivery of the original REACH-HF intervention will be conducted to explore their perspectives of using the D:REACH-HF platform to deliver the intervention to their patients. Intervention adherence will be explored using usage statistics of the digital platform. The findings from this mixed-methods investigation will help inform areas for refinement in the digital platform and facilitator training.
  

• REC name

  East Midlands - Nottingham 2 Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  21/EM/0273

• Date of REC Opinion

  29 Nov 2021

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion