A co-design case study of the development of heart failure e-TIPS to support self-management.

Background: Heart failure (HF) is a complex syndrome associated with high morbidity and mortality and increased healthcare utilisation. Patient education is key to improving health outcomes, achieved by promoting self-management to optimise medical management. Newer digital tools like text messaging and smartphone applications provide novel patient education approaches.
Objective: To partner with clinicians and people with lived experience of HF to identify the priority educational topic areas to inform the development and delivery of a bank of electronic-message driven tips ('e-TIPS') to support HF self-management.
Methods: We conducted three focus groups with cardiovascular clinicians, people with lived experience of HF and their caregivers, which consisted of two stages: Stage 1 - an exploratory qualitative study to identify the unmet educational needs of people living with HF (previously reported) and Stage 2 - a co-design feedback session to identify educational topic areas and inform the delivery of e-TIPS. This paper reports the findings of the co-design feedback session.
Results: We identified five key considerations in delivering e-TIPS and five relevant HF educational topics for their content. Key considerations in e-TIP delivery included: (i) Timing of the e-TIPS; (ii) Clear and concise e-TIPS; (iii) Embedding a feedback mechanism; (iv) Distinguishing actionable and non-actionable e-TIPS; and (v) Frequency of e-TIP delivery. Relevant educational topic areas included: (i) cardiovascular risk reduction; (ii) Self-management; (iii) Food and nutrition; (iv) Sleep hygiene; and (v) Mental health.
Conclusions: The findings from this co-design case study have provided a foundation for developing a bank of e-TIPS. These will now be evaluated for usability in the BANDAIDS e-TIPS, a single group, quasi-experimental study of a 24-week e-TIP program (personalised educational messages) delivered via Short Message Service (ACTRN12623000644662).