What Are Effective Program Characteristics of Self-Management Interventions in Patients With Heart Failure? An Individual Patient Data Meta-analysis
ABSTRACT
Background: To identify those characteristics of self-management interventions in patients with heart failure (HF) that are effective in influencing health-related quality of life, mortality, and hospitalizations. Methods and Results: Randomized trials on self-management interventions conducted between January 1985 and June 2013 were identified and individual patient data were requested for meta-analysis. Generalized mixed effects models and Cox proportional hazard models including frailty terms were used to assess the relation between characteristics of interventions and health-related outcomes. Twenty randomized trials (5624 patients) were included. Longer intervention duration reduced mortality risk (hazard ratio 0.99, 95%
Program Characteristics
A selection of program characteristics was identified as potential determinants of effective self-management interventions based on literature on self-management and behavior change and their presence across included studies:
1. Intensity: number of planned contacts between person who delivered the intervention and patient, including planned telephone contacts
2. Duration: number of months that the intervention was planned to be delivered to the patient
3. Standardized training: type of training given to person(s)who delivered the intervention to the patient (standardized protocoled training/heterogeneous nonprotocoled training)
4. Multidisciplinary team: type of interventionist(s) delivering the intervention to the patient (multidisciplinary team/single interventionist)
5. Peer contact: contact with peer patients during the intervention, including remote contact such as telephone contact (yes/no)
6. Keeping logs: stimulating patient to keep logs for monitoring symptoms (yes/no)
7. Goal-setting skills: teaching patient goal-setting skills for management of the condition or behavior change (yes/no)
8. Problem-solving skills: teaching patient problem solving skills for management of thecondition(yes/no)
9. Seeking support:teaching patient skills for seeking support in social network, from caregivers, or from health care professionals (yes/no).