Trial results for an intervention leveraging home health aides to improve outcomes in Heart Failure were posted on 2025-06-06. The intervention arm showed a mean increase of 1.88 units in heart failure knowledge among aides, compared to 0.93 units in the enhanced usual care arm.
Background
Heart failure is a chronic and progressive condition that often requires extensive home-based care and support. Home health aides play a critical role in the daily management and well-being of patients with heart failure, making their knowledge, confidence, and job satisfaction important factors in patient outcomes. Enhancing the capabilities of these caregivers can potentially lead to improved patient health, including a reduction in emergency department visits and hospital readmissions.
Trial design
This completed study, designated as Phase NA, enrolled 105 participants to investigate conditions including Heart Failure and Congestive Heart Failure. The trial aimed to determine the effectiveness of an intervention among home health aides caring for adults with a primary diagnosis of heart failure in a home care setting. The intervention was compared against an Enhanced Usual Care arm. The study examined the intervention's effect on home health aides' heart failure knowledge and confidence, as well as on client health outcomes such as emergency department visits and hospital readmissions.
Key results
The trial reported several key measurements and analyses:
- Change in Heart Failure Knowledge (units on a scale):
- Intervention Arm: mean of 1.88 units.
- Enhanced Usual Care: mean of 0.93 units.
- Change in Heart Failure Caregiving Self-efficacy (units on a scale):
- Intervention Arm: mean of 1.44 units.
- Enhanced Usual Care: mean of 1.27 units.
- Change in Job Satisfaction (units on a scale):
- Intervention Arm: mean of -0.31 units.
- Enhanced Usual Care: mean of 0.12 units.
- Change in Intention to Leave (Participants):
- Enhanced Usual Care: 10 participants.
- Intervention Arm: 9 participants.
- Enhanced Usual Care: 6 participants.
- Intervention Arm: 6 participants.
- Enhanced Usual Care: 6 participants.
- Intervention Arm: 5 participants.
Key analyses included:
- An analysis using Regression, Logistic method for workers' intentions of leaving their current job, which reported an Odds Ratio (OR) of 0.97 (95.0% CI: 0.14 to 6.85) with a p-value of 0.974. This outcome measured workers' intentions of leaving their current job, dichotomized from a 7-point Likert scale.
- An analysis using Regression, Logistic method for workers' intentions of searching for a new job, which reported an Odds Ratio (OR) of 0.8 (95.0% CI: 0.08 to 7.72) with a p-value of 0.846. This outcome measured workers' intentions of searching for a new job, dichotomized from a 7-point Likert scale.
- An analysis using Regression, Logistic method for preventable 911 calls if had been able to reach the doctor, which reported an Odds Ratio (OR) of 0.18 (95.0% CI: 0.03 to 0.94) with a p-value of 0.043. This outcome was dichotomized from responses regarding preventable 911 calls.
- An analysis using Regression, Logistic method for preventable 911 calls if had been able to reach the nurse/supervisor, which reported an Odds Ratio (OR) of 1.01 (95.0% CI: 0.22 to 4.58) with a p-value of 0.99. This outcome was dichotomized from responses regarding preventable 911 calls.
What this means
The trial results indicate that the intervention for home health aides significantly improved their heart failure knowledge and showed a modest improvement in caregiving self-efficacy. Notably, one analysis suggested a statistically significant reduction in preventable 911 calls if the doctor could be reached (p=0.043), implying that enhanced aide training or support could improve patient management and communication with medical professionals. While job satisfaction saw a slight decrease in the intervention arm and intentions to leave were not significantly different between groups, the gains in knowledge and the potential impact on reducing preventable emergency calls highlight the value of targeted interventions for home health aides in heart failure care.
Source
The information regarding these trial results was obtained from ClinicalTrials.gov, a public database of clinical studies. The results for the study NCT04239911, titled "Leveraging Home Health Aides to Improve Outcomes in Heart Failure", were posted on 2025-06-06 on clinicaltrials.gov.