A virtual community of practice to empower patients with recent ischemic heart disease: A randomized controlled trial

To evaluate the effectiveness of a virtual community of practice (vCoP) in improving the activation of individuals with ischemic heart disease (IHD).

We conducted a randomized controlled trial. A total of 282 patients with IHD from Madrid, Catalonia, and the Canary Islands were randomly allocated to an intervention or a control group. Patients were anonymized and the statistician was blinded to group allocation. The intervention was a multicomponent-tailored vCoP built on the Web 2.0 concept and focused on skills toward patient empowerment. The primary outcome was the Patient Activation Measure score. Secondary outcomes were self-efficacy to manage the disease, adherence to the Mediterranean diet, level of physical activity, depression, anxiety, medication adherence, and health-related quality of life. A linear regression model of mixed effects was carried out to estimate the effect of participating in the vCoP.

Significant differences in adherence to the Mediterranean diet were found favoring the intervention at 6, 12, and 18 months, B = 0.86, 95% confidence interval (CI) [0.36, 1.35]. No significant changes among data collection points were found for the other variables.

Our results suggest that vCoPs can be helpful for improving adherence to the Mediterranean diet in individuals with IHD, but not for improving their activation or quality of life. However, considerable uncertainty remains due to participants' high dropout rate. Further research is needed to identify the behavioral change mechanisms of such an intervention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).