Effect of Personalized Health Coaching Program in Patients With Frailty and Heart Failure: Rationale and Study Design

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Cardiology
• Nursing Science

Background:

• Frailty significantly worsens outcomes in heart failure (HF) patients, necessitating targeted management strategies.
• Existing frailty interventions often overlook the complex, multidimensional needs of hospitalized patients, focusing instead on physical aspects or community-dwelling individuals.
• Effective frailty management in HF requires a holistic approach encompassing clinical, functional, psycho-cognitive, and social domains, particularly during care transitions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of a 12-week nurse-led, personalized health coaching program for hospitalized HF patients with frailty.
• To assess the program's impact on multidimensional frailty and quality of life (QoL) in this patient population.
• To provide evidence for the necessity of personalized, multidimensional interventions in managing frailty-related adverse outcomes in HF.

Main Methods:

• A randomized controlled trial involving hospitalized HF patients screened for frailty using validated tools (e.g., Fried's phenotype, Tilburg Frailty Indicator).
• Participants were randomized to an intervention group receiving personalized health coaching (pre-discharge education, weekly calls) or a control group receiving standard care.
• The intervention addressed clinical, functional, psycho-cognitive, and social frailty domains, with optional psychiatric support and community integration programs.

Main Results:

• Primary outcomes include improvements in multidimensional frailty and quality of life (QoL) at 12 and 24 weeks.
• Secondary outcomes will assess changes in individual frailty domains.
• The study aims to demonstrate significant improvements in the intervention group compared to the control group.

Conclusions:

• A nurse-led, personalized health coaching program shows promise for managing multidimensional frailty in hospitalized HF patients.
• Such interventions are crucial for improving QoL and clinical outcomes in this vulnerable population.
• This study will clarify the role and necessity of tailored, holistic approaches in HF patient management.