Clinical trial NCT05313880: DIGITAL-HF - Digital Tools in Heart Failure - a Survey of Patient Usage (DIGITAL-HF)
Official title: Digital Tools in Heart Failure - a Survey of Patient Usage (DIGITAL-HF)
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Conditions: Heart Failure
Keywords: Digital technology
Digital literacy
Patient activation measures
Lead sponsor: Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2022-04-06
Enrollment: 254
Sex: ALL
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Observational model: COHORT
Time perspective: CROSS_SECTIONAL
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: This is a study of outpatients with a diagnosis of heart failure, regardless of ejection fraction.

Brief summary: Heart failure is a chronic health condition associated with significant symptoms, an increased need of support from the NHS, and typically is associated with a reduction in life expectancy. The covid pandemic has made it more difficult for the NHS to deliver high quality care to the 1 million patients living with heart failure in the UK. NHS England plans that digitalisation of services will help, increasing efficiency and improving ability of patients to self-care and manage their conditions. "Digitalisation" includes the use of digital tools for health, such as Apps and online resources \& support. But the typical heart failure patient does not receive a diagnosis of heart failure until their 70s or 80s, creating a significant risk of digital exclusion. The heart failure failure community doesn't have any information about which tools (if any) heart failure patients are using, or why.

Patients who attend the heart failure clinic at the Royal Brompton, either face-to-face or virtually, will be eligible for our study. They will be provided an information sheet and asked for informed consent. The study consists of 4 short questionnaires (30 questions total) which only takes between 10-15 minutes to complete, this consists of 3 previously validated questionnaires and one bespoke questionnaire related to their digital tool use.

The investigators aim to recruit 130 patients to help us better understand how many NHS patients with heart failure access digital tools, which ones are most often used, and how this relates to their health literacy, digital health literacy and overall attitude to their health condition and management. The investigators aim to describe different digital subgroups of patients and will use this information to help inform local and national policy around digital support for people living with heart failure.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Any patient who attends one of the heart failure clinics at the Royal Brompton hospital with a diagnosis of heart failure will be considered for the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Unable to complete a questionnaire

Primary outcomes:
measure: Proportions of digital tool use
timeFrame: 6 months
measure: Correlation of digital tool use with demographics
timeFrame: 6 months
measure: Correlation of digital tool use with measures of patients' heart failure
timeFrame: 6 months
measure: Correlation of digital tool use with validated questionnaires
timeFrame: 6 months
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: London
country: United Kingdom
facility: Royal Brompton Hospital
city: London
country: United Kingdom
facility: Guy's and St Thomas' foundation NHS trust
city: London
country: United Kingdom
facility: King's college NHS foundation trust
Study officials:
affiliation: Royal Brompton hospital, part of Guys and St Thomas' hospital
name: Martin Cowie
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: