Efficacy of a Web-Based Emotion Regulation Intervention for Patients With Congenital Heart Disease

NCT ID: NCT05862909

Last Updated: 2025-05-11

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

524 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2022-08-05

Study Completion Date

2024-10-21

Brief Summary

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Congenital heart disease (CHD) is associated with daily stressors and functional impairments that can cause negative emotions. Emotion regulation abilities may determine whether people with CHD develop psychopathology or adapt to the illness-related regulatory demands. This three-arm randomized clinical trial evaluates the efficacy of emotion regulation interventions in individuals with CHD.

Patients with CHD over 18 years will be randomly assigned to a CHD-specific web-based emotion regulation intervention, a general web-based emotion regulation intervention, or a waitlist control group with delayed intervention access (8 weeks). The interventions are based on cognitive behavioral therapy, including everyday emotion regulation exercises and psychoeducation via video and audio files. Four and eight weeks after baseline, emotion regulation, well-being, depression, anxiety, perceived stress, life satisfaction, and illness identity will be assessed.

Both interventions are expected to improve emotion regulation abilities, well-being, depressive symptoms, anxiety, perceived stress, life satisfaction, and illness identity four and eight weeks after baseline compared to the waitlist control group. The disease-specific intervention is hypothesized to be superior as it targets everyday emotional problems in CHD patients.

Detailed Description

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Background: Congenital heart disease (CHD) is associated with significant everyday stressors and impairments in functioning that can induce various negative emotions such as fear, anger, or sadness. When faced with negative emotions caused by the chronic illness, emotion regulation abilities might be central for determining whether individuals with CHD develop symptoms of psychopathology or successfully adjust to the illness-related regulatory demands. Therefore, training emotion regulation abilities offers a promising approach to enhancing psychological well-being in individuals affected by CHD. As patients with CHD face specific challenges, disease-specific emotion regulation interventions may be beneficial in promoting successful adjustment to the condition. Nevertheless, no studies have been conducted to test the effectiveness of emotion regulation interventions for individuals with CHD.

Method: The present three-armed randomized clinical trial evaluates the efficacy of web-based emotion regulation interventions in individuals with CHD. Patients with CHD over 18 years old will be randomly assigned to:

1. A CHD-specific web-based emotion regulation intervention.
2. A general web-based emotion regulation intervention.
3. A waitlist control group with delayed intervention access (8 weeks).

The interventions are conducted via mobile phone or desktop browsers and are based on cognitive behavioral therapy, including everyday emotion regulation exercises and psychoeducation via video material and audio files. Four and eight weeks after baseline, emotion regulation abilities, well-being, depression, anxiety, perceived stress, life satisfaction, and illness identity will be assessed as outcome measures.

Hypotheses: Both interventions are expected to enhance emotion regulation abilities four and eight weeks after baseline compared to the waitlist control group. In addition, the interventions are hypothesized to improve well-being, depressive symptoms, anxiety, perceived stress, life satisfaction, and illness identity. The disease-specific intervention is assumed to be superior to the general emotion regulation intervention as it targets everyday emotional challenges in CHD patients.

Conditions

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Congenital Heart Disease Emotional Regulation

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Randomized controlled trial with two intervention groups and a waiting list control group
Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

DOUBLE

Investigators Outcome Assessors
The group allocation variable will be masked during the data analyses to minimize possible bias concerning the statistical procedure. For this purpose, an independent researcher will delete all information in the dataset indicating the group allocation. Therefore, the evaluator does not know which expression of the group variable represents the CHD-specific intervention, the general intervention, or the waitlist control group.

Study Groups

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Intervention group (IG 1)

CHD-specific web-based emotion regulation intervention

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

CHD-specific web-based emotion regulation intervention

Intervention Type OTHER

CHD-specific web-based emotion regulation intervention with ten video-based sessions covering emotional challenges of CHD and effective emotion regulation strategies (i.e., reappraisal, acceptance, problem solving, distraction, rumination, avoidance, suppression). To integrate the intervention into emotional experiences occurring in the daily life of patients with CHD, the sessions are supported by everyday emotion regulation exercises using an ecological momentary intervention.

Intervention group (IG 2)

General web-based emotion regulation intervention

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

General web-based emotion regulation intervention

Intervention Type OTHER

General web-based emotion regulation intervention with ten video-based sessions covering topics related to emotional awareness and effective emotion regulation strategies (i.e., reappraisal, acceptance, problem solving, distraction, rumination, avoidance, suppression). To integrate the intervention into emotional experiences occurring in daily life, the sessions are supported by everyday emotion regulation exercises using an ecological momentary intervention.

Waitlist control group (CG)

8-week waiting period

Group Type NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

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CHD-specific web-based emotion regulation intervention

CHD-specific web-based emotion regulation intervention with ten video-based sessions covering emotional challenges of CHD and effective emotion regulation strategies (i.e., reappraisal, acceptance, problem solving, distraction, rumination, avoidance, suppression). To integrate the intervention into emotional experiences occurring in the daily life of patients with CHD, the sessions are supported by everyday emotion regulation exercises using an ecological momentary intervention.

Intervention Type OTHER

General web-based emotion regulation intervention

General web-based emotion regulation intervention with ten video-based sessions covering topics related to emotional awareness and effective emotion regulation strategies (i.e., reappraisal, acceptance, problem solving, distraction, rumination, avoidance, suppression). To integrate the intervention into emotional experiences occurring in daily life, the sessions are supported by everyday emotion regulation exercises using an ecological momentary intervention.

Intervention Type OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* sufficient German language skills (C1)
* permanent internet access during the study period
* diagnosis of a congenital heart disease
* ≥ 18 years of age

Exclusion Criteria

* incapacity to provide informed consent
* acute suicidality
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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Competence Network for Congenital Heart Defects

OTHER_GOV

Sponsor Role collaborator

Heidelberg University

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Luise Pruessner

Principal Investigator

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

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Luise Pruessner

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Department of Psychology, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg (Germany)

Steffen Hartmann

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Department of Psychology, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg (Germany)

Anna-Lena Ehmann

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Department of Psychology, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg (Germany)

Sven Barnow

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Department of Psychology, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg (Germany)

Ulrike Bauer

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

National Register for Congenital Heart Defects, Berlin (Germany)

Paul Helm

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

National Register for Congenital Heart Defects, Berlin (Germany)

Locations

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Competence Network for Congenital Heart Defects

Berlin, , Germany

Site Status

Countries

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Germany

References

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Izadpanah S, Barnow S, Neubauer AB, Holl J. Development and Validation of the Heidelberg Form for Emotion Regulation Strategies (HFERST): Factor Structure, Reliability, and Validity. Assessment. 2019 Jul;26(5):880-906. doi: 10.1177/1073191117720283. Epub 2017 Jul 21.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 28730850 (View on PubMed)

Kroenke K, Spitzer RL, Williams JB. The PHQ-9: validity of a brief depression severity measure. J Gen Intern Med. 2001 Sep;16(9):606-13. doi: 10.1046/j.1525-1497.2001.016009606.x.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 11556941 (View on PubMed)

Spitzer RL, Kroenke K, Williams JB, Lowe B. A brief measure for assessing generalized anxiety disorder: the GAD-7. Arch Intern Med. 2006 May 22;166(10):1092-7. doi: 10.1001/archinte.166.10.1092.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 16717171 (View on PubMed)

Topp CW, Ostergaard SD, Sondergaard S, Bech P. The WHO-5 Well-Being Index: a systematic review of the literature. Psychother Psychosom. 2015;84(3):167-76. doi: 10.1159/000376585. Epub 2015 Mar 28.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 25831962 (View on PubMed)

Oris L, Rassart J, Prikken S, Verschueren M, Goubert L, Moons P, Berg CA, Weets I, Luyckx K. Illness Identity in Adolescents and Emerging Adults With Type 1 Diabetes: Introducing the Illness Identity Questionnaire. Diabetes Care. 2016 May;39(5):757-63. doi: 10.2337/dc15-2559. Epub 2016 Mar 17.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 26989179 (View on PubMed)

Klein EM, Brahler E, Dreier M, Reinecke L, Muller KW, Schmutzer G, Wolfling K, Beutel ME. The German version of the Perceived Stress Scale - psychometric characteristics in a representative German community sample. BMC Psychiatry. 2016 May 23;16:159. doi: 10.1186/s12888-016-0875-9.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 27216151 (View on PubMed)

Ritschel LA, Tone EB, Schoemann AM, Lim NE. Psychometric properties of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale across demographic groups. Psychol Assess. 2015 Sep;27(3):944-54. doi: 10.1037/pas0000099. Epub 2015 Mar 16.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 25774638 (View on PubMed)

Diener E, Emmons RA, Larsen RJ, Griffin S. The Satisfaction With Life Scale. J Pers Assess. 1985 Feb;49(1):71-5. doi: 10.1207/s15327752jpa4901_13.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 16367493 (View on PubMed)

Pruessner L, Hartmann S, Ehmann AL, Barnow S, Bauer UMM, Helm PC. Digital Emotion Regulation Interventions for Patients With Congenital Heart Disease: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2025 Oct 1;8(10):e2538813. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.38813.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 41134574 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

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ER-CHD

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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