Technology enabled behavioural change as a pathway towards better self-management of cardiovascular disease.

Background Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of premature death and disability in Europe and worldwide, costing theEU economy almost EUR 196 billion a year. While effective cardiac rehabilitation (CR) improves morbidity and reduces the likelihood of premature death by 24%, uptake of community-based CR is very low. Key reasons include: severe lack of programmes, travel time, scheduling issues, lack of peer mentoring, and low self-efficacy associated with poor exercise technique and perceived poor ‘body image’(not wanting to exercise with ‘strangers’).