Holly Health for hypertension and mental health v1.1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Holly Health: A feasibility randomised controlled trial of a personalised, scalable health coaching intervention for patients living with hypertension, anxiety and/or depression
IRAS ID
333701
Contact name
Daniela Mercado Beivide
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Holly Health
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN14391408
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 8 months, 2 days
Research summary
Chronic disease rates including high blood pressure, are rising and leading to expensive and often avoidable cardiovascular health events. Notably, over 30% of hypertension patients are affected by anxiety/depression, impacting their ability to manage lifestyle behaviours consistently. Holly Health, an established personalised digital coaching platform (which has supported 25,000 people so far) with health behaviour changes, will run a randomised controlled clinical trial (using a waitlist control) with patients living with hypertension and depression/anxiety and who are registered in Northumbria Primary Care.
The goal of this project is to establish the feasibility and acceptability of providing a digital health coach service by assessing recruitment, engagement, retention rates and feedback. We will also measure changes in health behaviours, personal wellbeing and blood pressure readings before and after engaging with the service.
Participants will have an in-person visit with a member of staff from the practice to do an initial assessment including some questionnaires and a blood pressure reading. After that, participants randomly allocated to the intervention will get access to the digital health coaching service (Holly Health) and will go through a ‘behavioural health check’ with a chatbot (I.e., the Holly bird) covering physical and mental health questions that will inform their digital coaching experience. The service will provide ongoing motivational coaching messages, educational content, self-reflection exercises and in-the-moment support. Participants will also have the option to track their blood pressure, daily mood and energy levels. 12 weeks later, participants will do a second visit to the GP practice for a post-assessment session. Waitlist participants will be given access to Holly Health after this point.
Participants will have unlimited access to the Holly Health app for 12 months. However, the last assessment point will be at 6 months from baseline
REC name
East of Scotland Research Ethics Service REC 2
REC reference
24/ES/0012
Date of REC Opinion
20 Feb 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion