Heart-health Networking App to help persons returning from incarceration manage cardiovascular disease

We propose to develop a mobile health smartphone applicationappcalled the HEart health Networking AidHENAto help persons returning from incarceration into open societyHENA will help them manage cardiovascular diseaseCVDduring their re integration periodand in the broader context of other health and non health related challenges they faceMore thenpersons are released each year from state and federal prisons to their communities and an estimatedmillion persons are released from local jails back to their communitiesCVD is a frequent cause of illness and death for thesereturning personsWithout any health interventionsmany are likely to end up in Emergency Rooms at community hospitalsbecause most will have lost insurance coverage and are unable to maintain medication or other treatment plans once releasedespecially in light of the challenges in housingfoodand employment that they faceAs a resulta successful intervention to help this population maintain cardiovascular health can produce broader economic and population health benefitsRecent work by the research team has shown that a patient s social network can help that patient improve chronic disease self managementin that casefor cardiovascular diseaseThat research also developed a demonstration that smart phone app could facilitate such self management supportThis proposal seeks to apply the methods and technology from our prior research and translate it into a commercial grade HENA smart phone appHENA will engage a returning person s family and community resources to help that person improve heart health and avoid CVDHENA allows a returning person to create a private local social network of household family friends that will support the patient s heart health behaviorssuch as adhering to medicationfinding people and safe settings for exerciseand sharing information and positive social reinforcementHENA will also give the returning person access to local community resources to support both health needs and the re entry to the communityOur team brings a unique combination of leaders and experts in user centered and social computing and behavioral science researchand experts in cardiology and CVD in inmate and returning person populationsPhase I Aims are toDefine needs and opportunities for HENA social support using participatory design methods within asample of returning personspeople from their family friend networksand healthcare and communitysupport persons that are stakeholders in the success of HENADesign the HENA user interface and develop a complete HENA app prototypeConduct initial formative assessment of the HENA prototype for usability and perceived usefulness Narrative Cardiovascular disease is a frequent cause of illness and death for the large number of persons returning to open society from prison or jailMany are likely to seek treatment at community hospitals Emergency Rooms without a low cost but effective intervention to help them maintain heart healthWe propose to design and test a smartphone app that uses social networking technology to help family and friends of persons returning from incarceration to manage cardiovascular disease and better focus a successful return to open society