Background: Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the most prevalent type of cardiac disease among adults worldwide,\nincluding those in Singapore. Most of its risk factors, such as smoking, physical inactivity and high blood pressure,\nare preventable. mHealth has improved in the last decade, showing promising results in chronic disease prevention\nand health promotion worldwide. Our aim was to develop and examine the effect of a 4-week Smartphone-Based\nCoronary Heart Disease Prevention (SBCHDP) programme in improving awareness and knowledge of CHD,\nperceived stress as well as cardiac-related lifestyle behaviours in the working population of Singapore.\nMethods: The smartphone app ââ?¬Å?Care4Heartââ?¬Â was developed as the main component of the programme. App\ncontent was reviewed and validated by a panel of experts, including two cardiologists and two experienced\ncardiology-trained nurses. A pilot randomised controlled trial was conducted. Eighty working people were recruited\nand randomised to either the intervention group (n = 40) or the control group (n = 40). The intervention group\nunderwent a 4-week SBCHDP programme, whereas the control group were offered health promotion websites\nonly. The participantsââ?¬â?¢ CHD knowledge, perceived stress and behavioural risk factors were measured at baseline and\non the 4th week using the Heart Disease Fact Questionnaire-2, Perceived Stress Scale, and Behavioural Risk Factor\nSurveillance System.\nResults: After the SBCHDP programme, participants in the intervention group had a better awareness of CHD\nbeing the second leading cause of death in Singapore (X2 = 6.486, p = 0.039), a better overall CHD knowledge level\n(t = 3.171, p = 0.002), and better behaviour concerning blood cholesterol control (X2 = 4.54, p = 0.033) than\nparticipants in the control group.\nConclusion: This pilot study partially confirmed the positive effects of the SBCHDP programme in improving\nawareness and knowledge of CHD among the working population. Due to the small sample size and short followup\nperiod, this study was underpowered to detect significant differences between groups. A full-scale longitudinal\nstudy is required in the future to confirm the effectiveness of the SBCHDP programme.
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