CHW Intervention to Improve Nutrition Security of Patients With Hypertension (HeartWell)

April 16, 2026 updated by: Anne N. Thorndike, MD, MPH, Massachusetts General Hospital

CHW Intervention to Improve Nutrition Security of Primary Care Patients With Hypertension

The goal of this study is to implement and evaluate a randomized pilot study of a 4-month Nutrition-enhanced community health worker (CHW) intervention for primary care patients with nutrition insecurity and poorly controlled hypertension. The nutrition intervention will be added to the pre-existing Massachusetts General Hospital CHW hypertension (Basic CHW) program that provides hypertension education, coaching about adherence to medications and primary care visits, and home BP cuffs and promotion of BP self-monitoring over the course of approximately 4 months.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

The goal of this study is to implement and evaluate a randomized pilot study of a 4-month Nutrition-enhanced CHW intervention in primary care patients with nutrition insecurity and poorly controlled hypertension. The nutrition intervention will be added to the pre-existing Massachusetts General Hospital CHW hypertension (Basic CHW) that provides basic hypertension education, coaching about adherence to medications and primary care visits, and home BP cuffs and promotion of BP self-monitoring over the course of approximately 4 months. The CHW nutrition intervention curriculum is tailored to the needs and preferences of a food-insecure population with limited resources. Nutrition education materials will be provided to participants, including a booklet of nutrition information and a summarized version of key points on a brochure that they can use as a quick reference when grocery shopping. Nutrition education will focus on reducing sodium, saturated fats, and added sugars and increasing fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Much of the educational material is based on a traffic-light system. These topics are organized into four modules: nutrition label reading, grocery shopping, meal-planning, and healthy cooking.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
60

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact

The name and contact information for the person who can answer enrollment questions for a clinical study. Each location where the study is being conducted may also have a specific contact, who may be better able to answer those questions.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Massachusetts
      • Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02114
        • Massachusetts General Hospital

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Eligible to participate in the Massachusetts General Hospital CHW hypertension program (age 21 years or older, uncontrolled hypertension, patient at one of 5 participating primary care clinics; either identifies as a minoritized race/ethnicty or is low-income); speaks English or Spanish

Exclusion Criteria:

  • declines participation in CHW hypertension program; does not speak English or Spanish

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: Nutrition-enhanced CHW intervention
This intervention integrates a nutrition component into the Basic CHW hypertension intervention to address gaps in patients' knowledge, skills, and resources for consuming and sustaining a healthful diet. CHWs will administer a 4-part nutrition curriculum that is tailored to the needs and preferences of a food-insecure population with limited resources. The nutrition education materials provided to participants will include a booklet of nutrition information that will serve as the primary educational resource for CHW use with participants.
Behavioral: Nutrition-enhanced CHW
CHW provides nutrition education and skills training in addition to the usual care (Basic CHW) hypertension management.
Active Comparator: Basic CHW intervention
The CHW provides basic hypertension education, coaching about adherence to medications and primary care visits, and home BP cuffs and promotion of BP self-monitoring. All participants are provided home BP cuffs and remote monitoring free of charge.
Behavioral: Basic CHW
CHW provide usual care for hypertension management.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Feasiblity
Time Frame: Baseline
Proportion of eligible participants enrolled in study
Baseline
Acceptability (intervention arm only)
Time Frame: 4 months
Average of participants' ratings of intervention components on a 10-point scale.
4 months
Feasibility of CHW nutrition intervention (intervention arm only)
Time Frame: 4 months
At least 70% participants complete at least 3 of 4 CHW nutrition education modules
4 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Diet quality
Time Frame: 4 months
Change in Healthy Eating Index-20 score
4 months
Blood pressure
Time Frame: 4 months
Change in systolic and diastolic blood presure
4 months
Secondary feasibility (intervention arm only)
Time Frame: 4 months
At least 70% participants complete 3 of 6 nutrition worksheets
4 months
Secondary feasibility (intervention arm only)
Time Frame: 4 months
At least 70% participants have a CHW assessment of their home cooking environment
4 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Massachusetts General Hospital

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Anne N Thorndike, MD, MPH, Massachusetts General Hospital

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
September 1, 2024

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
September 26, 2025

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
February 28, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
April 5, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
April 5, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
April 10, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
April 21, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
April 16, 2026

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 2024P000873

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

De-identified feasiblity, acceptability, diet quality, and blood pressure data will be shared. The data and details related to the analytic plan and study measures will be deposited in a publicly accessible data repository, such as the Harvard Dataverse, a NIH-approved Scientific Generalist Data Repository free to researchers inside and outside the Harvard community.

IPD Sharing Time Frame

Analytic plans and details will be made available no later than the official publication date of a peer-reviewed article that includes the study results, and these will be available for at least 5 years after the study period ends. De-identified data from the study will be made publicly available through the data repository within 90 days of the closeout of the project and made available according to the Harvard Dataverse's data retention policy.

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

In accordance with the data repository methods, completion of a data use agreement form, that stipulates data sharing under an IRB-approved protocol, will be required for accessing the data.

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL
  • SAP
  • ICF
  • ANALYTIC_CODE
  • CSR

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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