141st APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Home Events & Meetings Annual Meeting Schedule & Program

Recorded Annual Meeting Presentations (RAMP) are now available for purchase.
Only $90 for presenters, $140 for registered attendees and $200 for non-attendees.

Online Program

288234
Telecares-NI: Telehealth enhancement of carddiac education and support by nursing intervention


Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Sheryl Lacoursiere, PhD, FNP-BC, APRN, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, University of Masachusetts Boston, Waterbury, CT
Background: Patients with chronic illnesses such as cardiovascular disease are increasingly seeking the Internet for support from professionals and other patients. There have been many successes with remote monitoring of physiological parameters, but few have provided online support. Purpose: To test the feasibility and effects of a telehealth Internet-based nurse support intervention

Aims: To test the feasibility and effects of an electronic nurse support intervention on psychological and physiological outcomes, support, satisfaction, usage and communication in persons with cardiovascular disease who use the Internet. Methods: A Pretest-Posttest Comparative Control Group Repeated Measures design was employed, using 159 persons with cardiovascular disease who were current Internet users. Participants were recruited via the Internet and randomly assigned to one of two groups: (1) The Nurse Support group, which included access to Internet-based nurse support in a web-based group forum; (2) The Self-Care group, which included access to web links only. Data were collected pre-intervention, and 6- and 12- weeks post-intervention.

Results: Analyses of variance revealed a significant increase in web site usage by the Nurse Support group. There were no significant differences at the end of 6 weeks on overall outcomes, however between weeks 6 and 12 there was a significant effect for time. At both times, there was a significant increase in psychological outcomes. At 12 weeks, physiological outcomes scores significantly increased in the Nurse Support group, and decreased in the Self-Care group. At both times, there was significantly more satisfaction in the Nurse Support group. Qualitative analyses of satisfaction revealed a combination of eight themes between groups. Discussion forum communications revealed 98 topics with 685 messages, which were used to develop a taxonomy of nursing interventions.

Conclusions: The intervention was feasible, and there was an overall positive effect on outcome measures. The combination of nurse and peer support was efficacious.

Learning Areas:

Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Assessment of individual and community needs for health education
Chronic disease management and prevention
Communication and informatics
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Public health or related nursing

Learning Objectives:
Identify two quality of life measurements used in cardiac telehealth Discuss three considerations in developing a cardiac telehealth program.

Keyword(s): Telehealth, Heart Disease

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the Principal Investigator of this project and a faculty member at the University of Massachusetts Boston. I have developed and taught Health Informatics for the past five years. I am also a clinical provider/Family Nurse Practitioner, formerly an Assistant Head Nurse of a Telemetry unit.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 5111.1: Using Mobile Health and Applications to Promote Publich Health