Patient Perspectives on Innovative Telemonitoring Enhanced Care Program for Chronic Heart Failure (ITEC-CHF): Usability Study

Sheau Huey Chen; Iain Edwards; Rajiv Jayasena; Hang Ding; Mohanraj Karunanithi; Alison Dowling; Jamie Layland; Andrew Maiorana

doi:10.2196/24611

Patient Perspectives on Innovative Telemonitoring Enhanced Care Program for Chronic Heart Failure (ITEC-CHF): Usability Study

JMIR Cardio. 2021 Sep 14;5(2):e24611. doi: 10.2196/24611.

Authors

Sheau Huey Chen^#¹, Iain Edwards², Rajiv Jayasena³, Hang Ding^#^{4

5

6}, Mohanraj Karunanithi⁵, Alison Dowling², Jamie Layland^{7

8}, Andrew Maiorana^{1

9}

Affiliations

¹ School of Physiotherapy and Exercise Science, Curtin University, Perth, Australia.
² Department of Community Health, Peninsula Health, Melbourne, Australia.
³ The Australian e-Health Research Centre, Health and Biosecurity Unit, Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation, Melbourne, Australia.
⁴ RECOVER Injury Research Centre, Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
⁵ The Australian e-Health Research Centre, Health and Biosecurity Unit, Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation, Brisbane, Australia.
⁶ PCH-Northside Clinical Unit School, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
⁷ Department of Cardiology, Peninsula Health, Melbourne, Australia.
⁸ Peninsula Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
⁹ Allied Health Department and Advanced Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplant Service, Fiona Stanley Hospital, Perth, Australia.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 34519663
PMCID: PMC8479597
DOI: 10.2196/24611

Abstract

Background: Telemonitoring enables care providers to remotely support outpatients in self-managing chronic heart failure (CHF), but little is known about the usability and patients' willingness to engage with this technology.

Objective: This study aims to evaluate feedback from patients with CHF following participation in the Innovative Telemonitoring Enhanced Care program for CHF (ITEC-CHF) study.

Methods: The telemonitoring intervention consisted of three components: remote weight monitoring, structured telephone support, and nurse-led collaborative care. Participants were provided with electronic weighing scales (W550; ForaCare), and a computer tablet (Galaxy Tab A; Samsung). They were asked to weigh themselves on the provided scales daily. Telemonitoring was integrated with a personal assistance call service and a nurse care service according to their workflows in usual care. Feedback on the usability of ITEC-CHF was collected via survey from study participants following 6 months of receiving telemonitoring care for their body weight. Survey responses were provided on a 5-point Likert scale and through open-ended questions to determine participants' perceived benefits and barriers to using ITEC-CHF.

Results: A total of 67 participants (49/67, 73% male), with a mean age of 69.8 (SD 12.4) years completed the survey. The majority of participants agreed or strongly agreed that the ITEC-CHF program was easy to use (61/67, 91%), easy to navigate (51/65, 78%), useful (59/65, 91%), and made them feel more confident in managing their weight (57/67, 85%). Themes related to participants' perceptions of telemonitoring included increased support for early intervention of clinical deterioration, improved compliance to daily weighing, a sense of reassurance, and improved self-care and accountability, among others.

Conclusions: ITEC-CHF was rated highly on usability and was well accepted by users as part of their routine self-management activities. Participants were willing to use telemonitoring because they perceived a broad spectrum of benefits for CHF management.

Trial registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry ID ACTRN 12614000916640; https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=366691.

Keywords: acceptance; chronic heart failure; patient perspectives; telemonitoring; usability.

©Sheau Huey Chen, Iain Edwards, Rajiv Jayasena, Hang Ding, Mohanraj Karunanithi, Alison Dowling, Jamie Layland, Andrew Maiorana. Originally published in JMIR Cardio (https://cardio.jmir.org), 14.09.2021.