title: Coping effectively with heart failure (COPE-HF): design and rationale of a telephone-based coping skills intervention.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Coping Effectively with Heart Failure (COPE-HF) is an ongoing randomized clinical trial funded by the National Institutes of Health to evaluate if a coping skills training (CST) intervention will result in improved health status and quality of life as well as reduced mortality and hospitalizations compared with a heart failure education (HFE) intervention.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Two hundred heart failure (HF) patients recruited from the Duke University Medical Center and the University of North Carolina Hospital system will be randomized to a CST intervention (16 weekly 30-minute telephone counseling sessions including motivational interviewing and individually tailored cognitive behavioral therapy) or to an HFE intervention (16 weekly 30-minute telephone sessions including education and symptom monitoring). Primary outcomes will include postintervention effects on HF biomarkers (B-type natriuretic peptide, ejection fraction) and quality of life, as well as long-term clinical outcomes (hospitalizations and death). Secondary analyses will include an evaluation of treatment effects across subpopulations, and potential mechanisms by which CST may improve clinical outcomes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  COPE-HF is a proof-of-concept study that should provide important insights into the health benefits of a CST intervention designed to enhance HF self-management, improve health behaviors, and reduce psychologic distress.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA. sherw002@mc.duke.edu
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sherwood
authors.forename: Christopher M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: O'Connor
authors.forename: Faye S
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Routledge
authors.forename: Alan L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Hinderliter
authors.forename: Lana L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Watkins
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Babyak
authors.forename: Gary G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Koch
authors.forename: Kirkwood F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Adams
authors.forename: Carla Sueta
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Dupree
authors.forename: Patricia P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Benson M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Hoffman
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bowers
authors.forename: Kristy S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: James A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Blumenthal
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods; D005080:Exercise Test / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012107:Research Design; D012648:Self Care / Q000379:methods*; D013689:Telephone / Q000706:statistics & numerical data