Patient Perceptions of a Digitally-Enabled Community Health Worker Intervention: A Qualitative Study

Most studies assessing digital interventions for people with heart failure (HF) focus on clinical outcomes and few include patient perspectives. Understanding patient experience with the use of a digital HF platform along with community health worker (CHW) care as part of a digitally-enabled CHW intervention, can inform management of HF at home and improve the post-discharge phase of care.

To identify patient perceptions related to the use of a digitally-enabled community health worker intervention.

This qualitative study includes interviews with adults (age ≥18) with HF who were assigned to the intervention arm of a pilot randomized controlled trial September 2022 through June 2023. For 30 days after hospital discharge, intervention participants were paired with a CHW and instructed to use a digital platform that tracked biometrics (e.g., heart rate, oxygenation, blood pressure, body weight, steps taken, symptoms) and offered educational videos. In-depth interviews were performed after the 30-day intervention was complete (between 31 to 45 days after hospital discharge). Key interview domains included: barriers and facilitators to the intervention, use of remote monitoring in HF, and the role of CHWs in HF home care.

Interviews with participants (N=19; mean age 62.1, SD 15.1 years) yielded five key themes: (1) The combined intervention was well-received and CHWs made the use of the digital platform more approachable; (2) The digital platform enhanced HF knowledge and confidence in self-care; (3) Digital platform use was easy to integrate into daily routines; (4) In addition to assisting with navigation of unmet social needs (e.g., transportation, insurance benefits, food access), CHWs provided emotional support and increased motivation for clinical care plan adherence and platform use; (5) Connectivity issues and other technical challenges occurred with digital platform use.

The digital platform was easily integrated into patient daily routines. CHWs played a key role in making the platform more approachable for participant use. Further research is needed to better understand the impact of this intervention in larger HF populations over more extended time intervals.

RR2-10.2196/55687.