Grant: Project Grant - PA: Patient-Oriented Research: Early-Career Investigator

Over 650,000 Canadians currently live with heart failure (HF). HF is a condition that develops when the heart is not strong enough to move blood around the body. HF causes symptoms like fatigue, breathlessness, and swelling that impact quality of life. People with HF have an increased risk of repeat hospitalizations and death. Currently, there is no cure for HF, but it can be managed with medications. Many people with HF are not aware of the medications available to treat HF. Because of this, many people with HF do not receive the best medications for them. Decision aids are tools that can help inform patients about the options available to them so they can be better involved in decisions about their health. Before we can develop effective decision aids for people making decisions about their HF medications, we must understand what matters most to people with HF when making decisions about their medications, and what information and support they need to make these decisions. The purpose of our study is to better understand what matters most to people with HF when making decisions about their HF medications, and how healthcare professionals can support these decisions. To do this, we will first conduct interviews people with HF and interview healthcare professionals who treat HF. After this, we will ask people with HF to complete a special online survey called a discrete-choice experiment to understand what matters most to people with HF when making decisions about their HF medications. Our team of researchers includes people with lived experience with HF, doctors and pharmacists who care for people with HF, and experts in understanding patient preferences and developing decision aids. Our team will share the findings of this study to people with HF, healthcare professionals, researchers and policymakers. Findings from this study will also be used to develop a web-based decision aid for people with HF making medication decisions.