Feasibility of the Heart to Heart Yoga Program (H2HYoga)

Feasibility of the Heart to Heart Yoga Program in Patients With Heart Failure and Caregivers

A two-group (intervention vs. usual care), randomized controlled design will be used to determine the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention, the Heart2Heart program, and determine efficacy on physical and psychological outcomes in patients with heart failure (HF) and caregivers. A total of 20 patients with HF and 20 caregivers (n= 40) will be randomly assigned to the intervention or usual care group stratified by patient and caregiver groups. Only participants in the intervention will be asked to attend the 12-week sessions (two sessions per week; a total of 24 sessions in 12 weeks) via video conferencing (i.e., ZOOM). The short-term intervention efficacy will be assessed following week of the completion of 12-weeks sessions. Primary psychological outcomes include depressive symptoms, anxiety, stress, and quality of life. Primary physical outcomes include physical activity level, sleep quality, and perceived symptoms.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Depression; Heart Failure; Stress; Anxiety; Caregiver Burden
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Heart to Heart Yoga

Detailed Description

Heart2Heart Intervention. In this study, the Heart to Heart Yoga intervention is a therapeutic and standardized form of yoga intervention that is adapted from MediYoga designed to fit the needs of patients with heart failure (HF) and family caregivers who may have physical limitations and to fit cultural and social norms in Kentucky. The Heart to Heart Yoga intervention key personnel include two primary investigators, two professional yoga instructors, and one PhD student who are all nurses and were certified Medi-Yoga instructor Level 1 by completing more than 120 hours of Medi-yoga training course for medical professionals. The intervention will use a gradual, physical/ psychological yoga adaptation approach, and it will be delivered two times per week (40 -60 minutes per session) via videoconference technology for 12 weeks (total 24 sessions). Real-time, face-to-face, video conferencing technology is used. In the recent systematic literature review, yoga has been delivered for 12 weeks in patients with HF. The the12-week duration was selected in this study by considering variations of individual adaptation and available evidence in the literature. Yoga sessions will be delivered by two registered nurses who were yoga instructors and certified MediYoga instructors.

The 12-weeks of intervention include three structured sessions. At each session, the first part will focus on deep breathing (5- 11 minutes), followed by physical posture movement (3 -11 minutes), and then meditation (6 -11 minutes), based on the structured gradual adaptation program. Participants will be instructed to modify movements to ensure comfort and safety. For example, if a participant is more comfortable seated in a chair instead of the floor, the instructor will demonstrate exercise modification while ensuring target muscles are utilized. All sessions will be delivered as group sessions using a video-conferencing program on a digital multimedia device. Each week, three yoga sessions are available to allow participants flexibility in attendance. The intervention group also receives a short-video clip each week (up to 10 minutes) and recommend to follow to practice yoga for 10 minutes per day, and a total of 50 minutes per week while not attending sessions. Participants will record practice time in a Yoga log booklet.

The investigators will limit the number of participants up to 10 at each session by monitoring enrollment rates. Participants will also receive materials that include yoga poses guides and mats. Without explicit skill demonstration and training, the intervention group will receive the printed information and links to the AHA's Life's Simple 7 program.

Usual Care Group. Participants in the usual care group will also receive the printed information and links to the AHA's Life's Simple 7 program without explicit skills and training, including education and stress management. Stress management will be encouraged by watching and practicing yoga programs by providing a yoga mat.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 38
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Misook Chung, PhD, RN; Phone Number: 8593238024; Email: misook.chung@uky.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • Kentucky
    • Lexington, Kentucky, United States, 40503
      • University of Kentucky

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 99 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria Patients:

• diagnosis of chronic HF confirmed by their cardiologist with either preserved or reduced ejection fraction
• be able to speak and write English.

Inclusion Criteria Caregivers:

• be a primary caregiver identified by the patient
• the spouse, committed partner, or family member living with the HF patient
• be able to speak and understand English
• ability to give informed consent
• have no major comorbidities (i.e., HF, and terminal illness including active cancer, renal/liver failure) to perform yoga practice.

Exclusion Criteria:

• After obtaining the signed consent, we will screen depressive symptoms using the 9-items of the Patient Health Questionnaire (see the detailed process of screening depressive symptom criterion in the procedure) because we will target only patients and caregivers who experience at least mild depressive symptoms.
• major clinical cognitive impairment (i.e., dementia, Alzheimer's disease, and severe stroke)
• co-existing terminal illness (e.g., cancer)
• major psychiatric disorder other than depression
• referral for heart transplantation.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intervention; A total of 20 patients with HF and 20 caregivers (n= 40) who have at least mild depressive symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire 9 [PHQ-9] score = 5) will be randomly assigned to the intervention or usual care group stratified by patient and caregiver groups (Figure 1). Only participants in the intervention will be asked to attend the 12-week sessions (two sessions per week; a total of 24 sessions in 12 weeks) via video conferencing (i.e., ZOOM). The short-term intervention efficacy will be assessed at the following week of the completion of 12-weeks sessions. Primary psychological outcomes include depressive symptoms, anxiety, stress, and quality of life. Primary physical outcomes include physical activity level, sleep quality, and perceived symptoms.	Other: Heart to Heart Yoga; The Heart to Heart Yoga intervention is a therapeutic and standardized form of yoga intervention that is adapted from MediYoga designed to fit the needs of patients with HF and family caregivers who have physical limitations and depressive symptoms and to fit cultural and social norms in Kentucky. The intervention will use a gradual, physical/ psychological yoga adaptation approach, and it will be delivered two times per week (40 -60 minutes per session) via videoconference technology for 12 weeks (total 24 sessions). Real-time, face-to-face, video conferencing technology is used.
No Intervention: Usual Care; Participants in the usual care group will also receive the printed information and links to the AHA's Life's Simple 7 program without explicit skills and training, including education and stress management. We will encourage stress management by watching and practicing yoga programs by providing a yoga mat.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Feasibility of Intervention	Intervention evaluations will include a Likert style questionnaire to assess feasibility. Open-ended questions and comments will be utilized to gather additional information on any barriers or facilitators of participation and completion. feasibility data will be collected by each group's recruitment and retention rates by tracking eligible and enrolled participants using the consort diagram. We will also track participants' attendance rates and total attendance time (minutes) by monitoring the recorded sessions for the intervention acceptability. We will also collect participants' intervention satisfaction, enjoyment of the session, willingness to engage in yoga at home, and difficulty following yoga instruction using an 11-point numeric analog scale (0= not at all,10= very much) each session. We will also collect the Treatment Acceptability Adherence Scale (TAAS) and the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ).	12 weeks
Physical activity	Sit and stand	12 weeks
Physical activity	Activity energy expenditure using accelerometer of activity monitor device (ActiGraph)	12 weeks
Sleep Quality	Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index	12 weeks
Sleep Quality	Actigraphy data	12 weeks
C Reactive Protein		12 weeks
Interleukin 6		12 weeks
Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor		12 weeks
Perceived Symptoms	Heart Failure Somatic Symptom Checklist	12 weeks
Perceived Symptoms	Memorial Symptoms Assessment Scale	12 weeks
Depressive Symptoms	Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9)	12 weeks
Anxiety	Hospital Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms Scale (HADS)	12 weeks
Stress	Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale	12 weeks
Stress	Salivary cortisol awakening response	12 weeks
Caregiver Burden	Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI)	12 weeks
Caregiver Burden	Oberst Caregiving Burden Scale (OCBS)	12 weeks
Caregiver Burden	Caregiving Burden Questionnaire for heart failure (CBQ-HF)	12 weeks
Quality of Life	European Quality of Life (EQ-5D)	12 weeks
Quality of Life	Minnesota Living with Heart failure (MLHFQ)	12 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Misook L. Chung
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Misook Chung, PhD, RN, University of Kentucky

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): October 15, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): October 13, 2023
• Study Completion (Actual): October 13, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 22, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 9, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): March 21, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): November 30, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 29, 2023
• Last Verified: November 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Yoga; Caregiver
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavioral Symptoms; Heart Diseases; Cardiovascular Diseases; Stress, Psychological; Heart Failure; Caregiver Burden
• Other Study ID Numbers: 72684

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