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Testing Heart Failure Resilience Intervention for Caregivers (HEROIC) in Advanced Heart Failure
Sponsor: Johns Hopkins University
Summary
This study will test the mechanisms of a multi-component, nurse-led, primary palliative care intervention, HEart failure Resilience Intervention for Caregivers (HEROIC) to improve caregiver mental well-being, patient health-related quality of life and unplanned acute care in the setting of advanced heart failure. The investigators will conduct a multi-site, randomized controlled trial to test proposed mechanisms of action in a large sample (N=500) of persons with heart failure and the caregivers. The investigators will also examine variation in response to HEROIC components by heart failure subgroup (ventricular assist device, heart transplant or medically managed heart failure).
Key Details
Gender
All
Age Range
18 Years - Any
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Enrollment
500
Start Date
2027-01-04
Completion Date
2031-03-31
Last Updated
2026-09-04
Healthy Volunteers
No
Conditions
Interventions
HEROIC program
The HEart Failure Resilience Intervention for Caregivers (HEROIC) is a theory- and evidence-based primary palliative care intervention including 5 individualized nurse-led sessions conducted over 10 weeks via video calls. HEROIC helps caregivers identify and address caregiving and palliative care needs for the patient, while also focusing on caregiver mental health, leveraging multi-level resilience resources: individual (goal-setting, self-care), community (social support, palliative/clinical, community) and existential (life purpose).
Active Comparator Control 1
The control group will receive: 1. Written materials with resources from organizations such as the National Alliance on Caregiving, the Heart Failure Society of America and International Society for Heart \& Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) (patient and family education); 2. Home safety tips for caregivers developed by the National Institute on Aging; and 3. A monthly newsletter highlighting a heart healthy recipe, a self-care behavior such as getting adequate sleep, and one clinical or community resource; and 4. Bi-weekly check-in calls to discuss heart failure disease education and home safety tips.
Locations (2)
University of Colorado Anschutz
Denver, Colorado, United States
Johns Hopkins University, School of Nursing
Baltimore, Maryland, United States