Web-based Support to Caregivers in Heart Failure

Web-based Support to Caregivers Supporting a Person With Heart Failure - a Randomised Controlled Trial With a Process Evaluation

Caregivers of people with heart failure experience a lack of support from health care in their caring role. They often want to become more involved in care, receive education and have the opportunity to share experiences with other caregivers.

Objectives and hypothesis: Our hypothesis is that an internet-based support program that is developed in collaboration with caregivers of people with heart failure will increase preparedness to care (Preparedness for Caregiving Scale). We will also evaluate the effects of the support program on the experiences of caring including positive experiences and the impact of care on health and lifestyle (Caregiver Competence Scale, Rewards of Caregiving Scale, Heart Failure-Caregiver Questionnaire) and their management of heart failure (knowledge of heart failure, support for heart failure self-care and perceived control over heart disease). We will also explore if the patients' healthcare consumption is altered when caregivers receive more support.

Method: The project is a randomized controlled study where 300 caregivers from four health care regions will be randomised to either receive a support program via 1177 care guide or to a control group waiting list who receive standard support from health care and municipalities. After the termination of the study participants in the control group will also be offered access to the support program. Data will be collected with questionnaires at baseline and after 3 and 6 months. A process evaluation with semi-structured interviews to describe the relatives' experiences of using the program with be conducted.

Relevance: Caregivers have been involved in all stages of the development of the Internet-based support program. The evaluation focuses on both the effects of the intervention and factors that affect implementation and equality. Caregiver support that is delivered through 1177 care guide enables a more equal, efficient and accessible support for caregivers.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Heart Failure; Family Caregivers
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: web-based psychoeducational support

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 202
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Sweden
  • Östergötland County
    • Linköping, Östergötland County, Sweden, 581 85
      • Linköping University Hospital

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• A close relative identified by the patient who cares for, supports or helps this patient with a verified heart failure diagnosis ICD codes within I42 or I50 (i.e. all types of heart failure).

Exclusion Criteria:

• Relatives who are unable to carry out the data collection or participate in intervention (e.g. non-Swedish speaking, cognitive problems, severe mental illness, addiction)
• The patient or the close relative have a serious disease with expected short survival of < 6 months.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Double

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intervention group; Study participants will receive a web-based support program	Behavioral: web-based psychoeducational support; Caregivers in the experimental group will have access to psycho-educational support through a web-based plattform during 3 months.
No Intervention: Control group waiting list; Study participants in the control group waiting list will receive standard support from health care and municipalities. After study termination they will receive access to the same web-based program as the experimental group

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change from baseline to 3 months in preparedness to care for a person with heart failure	Total score of the Preparedness for Caregiving Scale including 8 items, min score 0, max score 32, higher score indicate better preparedness	Measured at baseline, after 3 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change from baseline to 3 and 6 months in Rewards of Caregiving	Total score of the Rewards of Caregiving Scale including 10 items, min score 0, max score 40, higher score indicate better Rewards of caregiving	Measured at baseline, after 3 and 6 months
Change from baseline to 3 and 6 months in Caregiver Competence	Total score of the Caregiver Competence Scale, including 4 item, min score 0, max score 12, higher score indicate better Caregiver Competence	Measured at baseline, after 3 and 6 months
Heart Failure-Caregiver burden and stress	Total score and subscales of the Heart Failure-Caregiver Questionnaire including 21 item in three domains, namely physical (five items), emotional/psychological (11 items) and lifestyle (four items and one stem item). Items are scored on a severity response scale ranging from 'Not at all = 0' to 'A lot = 4'. The total score was the average of the sum of the three domain scores calculated from sum of scores for items answered/total possible score of items answered x 100. The minimum and maximum scores ranged between 0 and 100.Higher score indicate higher caregiver burden.	Measured at baseline, after 3 and 6 months
Perceived control over the heart disease	Total score of the Control Attitude scale- caregiver version 4 item, min score 4, max score 28, higher score indicate better perceived control	Measured at baseline, after 3 and 6 months
Change from baseline to 6 months in preparedness to care for a person with heart failure	Total score of the the Preparedness for Caregiving Scale including 8 items, min score 0, max score 32, higher score indicate better preparedness	Measured at baseline, after 6 months
Change in knowledge about heart failure in the three subscales	Revised Dutch heart failure knowledge scale with 3 subscales: 1. Knowledge subscale 15 items, min score 0 max score 15, higher score indicate better heart failure knowledge. 2. Trust in own HF knowledge subscale 3 items, min score 3 max score 15, higher score indicare better trust. 3. Health literacy subscale 3 items, min score 3 max score 15, higher score indicare better health literacy.	Measured after 3 months
Change in caregiver support for heart failure self-care	European Self-care Behaviour Scale - caregiverversion 7 items, Score from 0-100, higher score better support for self-care	Measured at baseline, after 3 and 6 months

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Social support	Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, 12 items. Each item is rated on a seven-point Likert-type response format (1 = very strongly disagree; 7 = very strongly agree). A total score is calculated by summing the results for all items. The possible score range is between 12 and 84, the higher the score the higher the perceived social support.	Measured at baseline, after 3 and 6 months
Symptoms of anxiety and depression	Hospital anxiety and depression scale, 7 items for anxiety and 7 items for depression. Min score 0 and max score 21 for each scale, Higher score indicate more symptoms of anxiety and depression	Measured at baseline, after 3 and 6 months
Health related quality of life	EuroQol EQ-5D 5 level, index and VAS 0-100, higher score indicate better health	Measured at baseline, after 3 and 6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Linkoeping University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Anna Strömberg, PhD, Linkoeping University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 15, 2021
• Primary Completion (Actual): October 31, 2025
• Study Completion (Actual): January 31, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 9, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 9, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): May 13, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 9, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 5, 2026
• Last Verified: March 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: heart failure; caregiver; preparedness; carer; Perceived control
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Cardiovascular Diseases; Heart Diseases; Heart Failure
• Other Study ID Numbers: Dnr 2019-05310

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No