Previous CHAP Research

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Since 2000, the Cardiovascular Health Awareness Program (CHAP) has completed many different types of studies, adding to the international body of knowledge and evidence on the effective measurement, detection, prevention and management of cardiometabolic diseases.  CHAP research programs can be divided into five distinct phases.  Click here for current CHAP research.

PHASE 1: 2000-2003

What is the feasibility of offering cardiovascular health promotion sessions in local pharmacies?

Pilot Study completed in Dundas, Ontario in spring of 2001:Explored effective approaches to invite patients to attend local health promotion sessions involving the four pharmacies geographically close to one physician’s office.

Pilot Study completed in Ottawa, Ontario in summer of 2002:Explored feasibility of working with community members and primary care providers to successfully link cardiovascular risk factors collected in community health promotion sessions to family physicians and pharmacists.

Community Hypertension Assessment Trial (CHAT) completed in Ottawa and Hamilton, Ontario in 2003:Successfully determined  “proof of concept” of community pharmacy based blood pressure monitoring sessions led by volunteers and providing feedback to family physicians and pharmacists.

PHASE 2: 2004-2006

Can a Cardiovascular Health Awareness Program be successfully implemented at a community level?

Community-wide implementation in Grimsby and Brockville, Ontario in 2004:Successfully delivered a community-wide cardiovascular disease prevention program, inviting all family physicians and pharmacists in the communities to participate. 30% of the total population of seniors 65 years and older participated.

Cardiovascular Health Assessment Diabetes (CHAD) in Grimsby, Ontario in winter 2005: Explored feasibility of a community health promotion program to detect type 2 diabetes in participants older than 40 years of age.

Airdrie Cardiovascular Health Awareness and Management Program (ACHAMP) in Airdrie, Alberta in 2005-06: Replicated the Ontario projects in Alberta with similar community uptake of the program and generation of knowledge that blood pressure reductions and lifestyle changes occur after participating in CHAP.

PHASE 3: 2006

Can CHAP work at a multi-community level?

Multi community implementation and evaluation of the Community Cardiovascular Health Awareness Program (C-CHAP) across communities Ontario in 2006: A 10-week implementation of CHAP in 20 Ontario communities:

338 family physicians agreed to receive feedback on participants’ blood pressure and other risk factors

214 family physicians actively invited their patients to participate in CHAP either through personalized letters, prescriptions for assessment or community-wide advertising

129 pharmacies held CHAP sessions

1,265 three-hour long CHAP sessions were held

15,889 adults attended at least one CHAP session, representing 25% of the total older adult population in the 20 communities

27,358 risk assessments were conducted

577 older adult volunteers were trained as peer health educators

Hospitalization for stroke, congestive heart failure and heart attack were substantially reduced compared to 19 other communities that did not operate CHAP over the same period of time

PHASE 4: 2007- 2010

Can a sustained form of CHAP work at a community level?

Sustaining and evaluating an enhanced CHAP in communities across Ontario in 2008: Determined the feasibility of creating a sustainable model of CHAP for long-term implementation in communities, while also expanding several components of the program.

Reinforcing CHAP+AP in communities across Ontario from 2008- 2010: Delivered a robust, year round sustainable CHAP model in CHAP communities in Ontario. Worked towards developing tools and best practices to gain wide adoption and ongoing quality improvement of CHAP across the province and Canada.

PHASE 5: 2011- Present:

How to best adapt CHAP to different community situations and maintain its impact?  Research projects in Phase 5 include:

PIAFF/CAF-SPIN; Prevalence of Actionable Atrial defibrilation, identify AF risk factors for integrated stroke prevention

C-ChAMP; Adapt CHAP to french speaking community, and large urban Ontario centre, (including  CHAP Laval and CHAP York)

CHAP EMR;  Can CHAP be implemented in urban inter-professional primary care practice, how feasible is CHAP with Electronic Medical Records?

CHAP-EMS

 

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