The goal of this early-stage study is to support the heart health of home health aides, a workforce that provides care for adults at home but whose own health has been historically poor. To do this, the study will use Life's Essential 8 (LE8), a program developed by the American Heart Association (AHA) that promotes cardiovascular wellness through education and lifestyle changes. The program has been adapted specifically for home health aides and will be delivered by trained "peer coaches," who are fellow home health aides who will help guide participants through the program.
The main questions the study aims to answer are:
* Will the LE8 intervention, which provides cardiovascular health education and support with positive thinking, be used by home health aides and do they like it? * Does the LE8 intervention actually improve home health aides' cardiovascular health after the intervention's conclusion compared to baseline?
Participants will be paired with a trained peer coach and take part in the 10-week program over the course of 6 months. The program includes support for healthy behaviors and positive thinking, with the goal of making lasting improvements in cardiovascular health.
Currently working as a home health aide
Speak English or Spanish
≥ 18 years of age
Have low CV Health as assessed by LE8 components made up by physical health measurements (blood pressure, BMI) and general self-reported health (physical activity, diet, smoking, sleep); calculated to be a score of 0-50 (the total score ranges from 0-100)
Less than 1 year of job experience as a home health aide
Does not possess a smartphone
Gotten dizzy before with a finger stick blood sugar/cholesterol test
Have a history of syncope with a finger stick blood sugar/cholesterol test
Single group
Peer Coaching Delivered Life's Essential 8 Program
BehavioralThis intervention includes structured bi-weekly peer coach (PC) Zoom or telephone sessions and a cardiovascular health curriculum including links to AHA resources. During the 1:1 session, PCs will elicit participants' challenges and successes from the previous week, track progress, and set goals (behavioral targets). PCs will use cognitive training techniques to teach participants how to manage negative thinking and replace it with positive thinking and goal setting. They will be encouraged to work towards these goals and monitor their progress (i.e. getting more physical activity on the job).
Effectiveness, which will be assessed by a change from baseline in overall cardiovascular health score as measured by LE8.
Each individual Life's Essential 8 (LE8) domain (physical activity level, diet, smoking, sleep, and physiologic health (systolic and diastolic blood pressure), BMI, hemoglobin A1C, and non-HDL cholesterol) has a score of 0 to 100, with higher values indicating better cardiovascular health in each domain. The LE8 overall score is created by averaging individual scores across 8 domains. The overall score ranges from 0 to 100 with higher numerical values corresponding to better cardiovascular health.
Implementation, which will be assessed by acceptability through a qualitative interview
Acceptability defined as participant satisfaction of the study will be assessed through a qualitative interview
Implementation, which will be assessed by acceptability through a survey
Acceptability will be assessed through the 4-item, validated, Acceptability of Intervention Measure. Items are measured on a 5-point Likert scale (Completely Disagree-Completely Agree). The score is calculated as the mean. The scale for this measure ranges from 4-20 with higher scores indicating greater perceived acceptability of the intervention.
Implementation, which will be assessed by feasibility through a qualitative interview
We will ask peer coaches about the intervention's feasibility, or how viable it was considering their experience, through qualitative interviews.
Implementation assessed by feasibility through HHA eligibility
Feasibility will be assessed with the number of HHAs eligible to receive the intervention.
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Weill Medical College of Cornell University
Lead sponsor
American Heart Association
Collaborator
