Caregiver presence in a home-based cardiac rehabilitation programme improves the health-related quality of life of patients with heart failure

Eur J Cardiovasc Nurs. 2024 Jan 12;23(1):90-94. doi: 10.1093/eurjcn/zvad031.

Abstract

Rehabilitation EnAblement in CHronic Heart Failure (REACH-HF) is a home-based cardiac rehabilitation intervention designed for patients with heart failure and their caregivers. We present a pooled analysis of patients >18 years with a confirmed diagnosis of HF recruited to two REACH-HF randomized controlled trials. Where identified by patients and consented to participate, caregivers were randomly assigned with patients to receive the REACH-HF intervention plus usual care or usual care alone. Our analysis demonstrated that compared to control group, the REACH-HF group had a greater gain in their disease-specific health-related quality of life at follow-up.

Keywords: Cardiac rehabilitation; Caregivers; Health-related quality of life; Heart failure.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Cardiac Rehabilitation*
  • Caregivers
  • Heart Failure* / rehabilitation
  • Humans
  • Quality of Life
  • Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
  • Self Care