The Healing Hearts Together Randomized Controlled Trial and the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Tutorial for Transitioning From...

Area of Science:

• Clinical Psychology
• Cardiovascular Health Research
• Digital Health Interventions

Background:

• Supportive couple relationships positively impact chronic illness risk and secondary prevention.
• The Healing Hearts Together (HHT) program is an 8-week couples intervention targeting cardiovascular event survivors.
• The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated adaptation of in-person clinical research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide a tutorial on transitioning an in-person clinical research intervention to a web-based format.
• To use the HHT program as a case study for this transition process.
• To outline key considerations for virtual adaptation of clinical research.

Main Methods:

• Utilized optimal virtual care principles and Hom et al.'s four-stage framework (consultation, adaptation, pilot-testing, test launch).
• Reviewed clinical and research considerations including privacy, therapeutic aspects, group cohesion, ethics, recruitment, assessments, data collection, and analysis.
• Adapted the in-person HHT randomized controlled trial to a web-based format.

Main Results:

• Successfully transitioned the HHT intervention from in-person to a web-based format.
• Identified critical factors for successful virtual adaptation of clinical research interventions.
• Developed a step-by-step guide applicable to other clinical researchers.

Conclusions:

• The presented tutorial offers a practical framework for researchers to adapt in-person studies to web-based platforms.
• Virtual adaptation is feasible and essential for maintaining research continuity during public health crises.
• This approach supports ongoing research in couple-based interventions and cardiovascular health.