Effects of a remote therapeutic education programme involving peers and health professionals on physical activity in patients with coronary heart disease undergoing phase 3 cardiac rehabilitation: protocol for a single-centre randomised controlled trial

INTRODUCTION: Maintaining a satisfactory level of physical activity (PA) after cardiovascular rehabilitation in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) is an important public health issue. However, more than half of patients do not maintain recommended levels of PA in the long term. There is growing interest in the use of cognitive-behavioural interventions that actively involve both health professionals and patients in education and research settings. We hypothesise that a personalised therapeutic education programme (PTEP) delivered by peers in collaboration with health professionals may help patients with CHD maintain appropriate levels of PA after participation in a cardiovascular rehabilitation programme (CRP). METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We designed a prospective randomised controlled trial (the P-HEART-NER study) conducted jointly by health professionals and patients as experts or peers. The primary objective is to assess the impact of PTEP on objective levels of moderate to vigorous PA-measured by accelerometers-6 months after cessation of CRP. The secondary objectives are (1) to assess the impact of the intervention on light PA and sedentary time (also measured by accelerometry), (2) to evaluate changes in cardiovascular health indicators, including blood pressure, waist circumference and lipid profile, (3) to assess changes in motivation towards PA (using the Motivation Scale Towards Health-Oriented Physical Activity), PA self-efficacy (measured by the Exercise Confidence Survey) and quality of life (EQ-5D-5L). Patients will be enrolled at the end of a 4-week phase 2 CRP after a myocardial infarction. The intervention will consist of two teleconsultations and a group workshop at 2, 4 and 5 months, respectively, each jointly delivered by a peer and a health professional. The peers who will deliver the intervention will be patients who have participated in a phase 2 CRP with good compliance and who will be trained in motivational enhancement and cognitive behavioural therapies by health professionals and expert patients. The control group will not complete the PTEP. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval was granted by the French regional ethics committee CPP Ile de France (Ref CPPIDF1-2023-DI36-Cat2). All participants will sign a written informed consent form. The results will be presented at conferences and published in peer-reviewed journals. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT05927363.