Hybrid delivery of behavioral health screening and prevention intervention for pediatric heart transplant recipients and families: A randomized pilot study

A significant number of pediatric heart transplant recipients and their families experience post-traumatic stress symptoms following transplantation, which can impact recipient behavioral and medical health outcomes. Preventive behavioral health interventions may improve outcomes, especially if interventions can be delivered at a distance to decrease barriers to mental health care. This pilot study examined the acceptability and accessibility of an evidence-informed resilience training program delivered using a video telehealth platform. A secondary aim was to assess the preliminary efficacy of the intervention on recipient behavioral health outcomes, perceived barriers to recipient medication adherence, parent behavioral health outcomes, and family functioning.Seventeen heart transplant recipients (8-18 years old) and their families were recruited and randomly assigned to a treatment as usual (n = 8) or an intervention group (n = 9). Baseline assessment data collected included demographic information and validated behavioral health measures. Follow-up assessments included the validated measures and acceptability and satisfaction ratings.The study demonstrated that the program has high acceptability by recipients and parents, and a positive impact on recipients and parents, including significant reductions in youth behavioral difficulties as well as parent depression and post-traumatic stress symptoms.Results of this study are promising and call for further evaluation of hybrid delivery models for behavioral health screening and prevention interventions for pediatric heart transplant recipients and their families.