Design and Initial Evaluation of Technology-Supported Shared Decision Making for Secondary Prevention in Cardiac Patients in the CoroPrevention Project

Abstract

Secondary prevention is recommended after a cardiac event to stimulate recovery and reduce the risk of recurrent events. To optimize the results and support the patients to actively play a part in the prevention programme, the Euro-pean guidelines and EAPC position statements on prevention of cardiovascular diseases suggest a holistic approach and shared decision making (SDM). Up till now, no eHealth solution that offers a holistic approach for secondary prevention that includes SDM has been described. The H2020 project CoroPrevention takes this challenge as one of its research goals, and strives for a technology-supported shared decision making approach for a comprehensive secondary prevention programme for cardiac patients. In this article, we report on the design and initial evaluation of the CoroPrevention-SDM approach. We highlight the stakeholder needs that underpin the design of the technology-supported shared decision making approach, and illustrate the three applications of the CoroPrevention Tool Suite that help patients and the medical staff to bring SDM into practice. How the CoroPrevention-SDM approach and applications underwrite the behavioural goal Medication Adherence, is elaborated as an example. While the overall medical and user experience related benefits can only be assessed in the large scale CoroPrevention randomized clinical trial (RCT), we share the methods and partial results of the initial usability studies and SDM evaluation in this article. In particular , the studies revealed that both patients and caregivers are inclined to use the CoroPrevention-SDM approach to collaboratively set behavioural goals during SDM encounters, and they appreciate the designed supporting applications.