Development and pilot testing of a disease management program for low literacy patients with heart failure

Abstract

Development and pilot testing of a disease management program for low literacy patients with heart failure. Background: Randomized trials have shown that disease management programs can reduce hospitalizations and improve symptoms for patients with congestive heart failure. We sought to create and pilot test such a program for patients with low literacy skills. Methods: We used focus groups and individual cognitive response interviews (CRIs) to develop an educational booklet for low literacy patients with heart failure. We incorporated the booklet into a disease management intervention that also included an initial individualized 1-h educational session and scheduled supportive phone calls that were tapered over 6 weeks. We then conducted a 3-month before-after study on patients with low literacy skills (<9th grade literacy level) in a university internal medicine clinic to test the acceptability and efficacy of our program. Outcomes of interest included heart failure-related knowledge, self-care behavior and heart failure-related symptoms measured on the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure (MLwHF) scale. Results: Twenty-five patients were enrolled and 23 (92%) completed 3-month follow-up. Mean age was 60 years (range 35–74), 60% were men, 60% were African-American, and 74% had household income under $15,000 per year. The median reading level was fifth grade with 32% reading at or below the third grade level. Mean knowledge score at baseline was 67% and did not improve after the intervention. The proportion of patients reporting weighing themselves daily increased from 32% at baseline to 100% at 12 weeks. Mean improvement on the MLwHF scale was 9.9 points over the 3-month trial (95% CI: 0.5, 19.2), which corresponds to an improvement in one class on the New York Heart Association heart failure scale. Conclusion: A heart failure disease management program designed specifically for patients with low literacy skills is acceptable and is associated with improvement in self-care behavior and heart failure related symptoms.