Helping Others Toward Positive Emotions in People With Heart Failure

Summary

Heart failure (HF) affects 5 million people in the US and is the most common cause of hospitalization in elderly adults. One-third of patients who are hospitalized with HF have major depression. Depressed HF patients have double the rates of morbidity and/or mortality and worse health-related quality of life than non-depressed HF patients. The investigators previous pilot research suggests that a brief Cognitive Therapy (CT) intervention may improve short-term cardiac survival among depressed hospitalized HF patients compared to non-depressed HF patients who received usual care. Therefore, the investigators will conduct a larger study to evaluate the effects of the intervention on longer cardiac event-free survival, symptoms of depression, health-related quality of life, and stress levels in patients with HF. The investigators hypothesize that patients in the intervention group will experience longer cardiac event-free survival, lower levels of depressive symptom, better health-related quality of life, and lower salivary cortisol levels at follow-up than patients who receive usual care.

Conditions

• Heart Failure

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Brief Cognitive Therapy Intervention

The intervention group will receive an individual, 30 minute, scripted cognitive therapy session. This intervention will be delivered by an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse or a trained research nurse. An iPad will guide the outline of the intervention. The nurse will discuss depression in heart disease and the connection between thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. The nurse will ask the patient to describe a recent stressful experience and discuss thoughts that the patient has been experiencing. Two techniques for challenging negative thinking will be introduced to the patient: thought stopping and affirmations. The nurse will ask the patient to practice these techniques at home. After the patient has practiced both techniques, the nurse will leave the patient with a booklet with the intervention. At 1-2 weeks, the nurse will administer a booster session over the phone. This session will last 10-15 minutes and will reinforce the techniques learned during the brief CT intervention.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR)

  collaborator NIH

• Rebecca L. Dekker, PhD, RN, APRN

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Rebecca L Dekker, PhD · University of Kentucky College of Nursing

• Elizabeth Tovar, PhD · University of Kentucky College of Nursing

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

21 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2011-01-31

Primary Completion

2016-08-31

Completion

2016-08-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations