Grant: Knowledge Synthesis Grant

This will be the first synthesis to understand how programs and interventions to improve heart failure self-care work. By learning more about how these interventions work, we can improve the health of Canadians by improving healthcare for the large numbers of vulnerable patients with heart failure. This is important because heart failure is common, costly, and causes unnecessarily bad effects on life expectancy and quality. Research shows there is much that patients, families and health professionals can do to improve heart failure self care but research has found that attempts to do so have had inconsistent effects. Currently, we don't know why. Using a team of researchers and knowledge users from different health disciplines, this synthesis looks at the main mechanisms of effect of interventions to promote effective heart failure self-care. The synthesis will also look at whether and how key factors related to sex, gender, age and context moderate the influence of these mechanisms. By using the findings from existing studies containing data on how HF self care interventions work, this synthesis will develop important and new knowledge that is relevant, reliable and readable for key knowledge users who design and provide programs and interventions for HF self care.