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NCT Number: NCT07525843

A Pragmatic Clinical Trial of the WE BEAT Well-Being Education Program in Adolescent Congenital Heart Disease: WE BEAT CHD Study

The goal of this pragmatic clinical trial is to learn if the WE BEAT program, a 5-week group-based online wellbeing and skill-building program, can help teens with congenital heart disease (CHD) improve their ability to handle stress. The main question it aims to answer is if participants who receive the WE BEAT program become more resilient (the ability to bounce back from from tough times or recover from something difficult) and have better quality of life compared to participants who receive usual care. The study also aims to learn if there are connections between participant-reported psychosocial data (such as resilience, feelings about one's life and one's physical, mental, and social wellbeing) and clinical outcomes.

Eligible participants who are 12-17-year-old will be in the study for about 6 months and be randomized to receive either the WE BEAT program or usual care. Following completion of the primary WE BEAT intervention at Week 5, intervention arm participants will be randomized to a single-session booster session (occurring at Week 18) vs no booster session. The booster session will be provided in a similar format to the WE BEAT program. A review of all modules/skills introduced in the program will be provided.

All participants will complete 4 sets of online surveys and give 3 hair/saliva samples at different timepoints. Some participants may volunteer to give optional blood and urine samples.

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Key information

Conditions

Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) Adolescent Congenital Heart Disease Pragmatic Trial Resilience, Psychological Resiliency-building Intervention Telemedicine-Based Education

Age range

12 year–17 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford, California, United States

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Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Age 12-17 years old
  • CHD of moderate or severe complexity (Class II/III, 2018 AHA/ACC ACHD, Table 4)
  • English or Spanish language proficiency
  • Receives cardiology care at a PHN or PHN auxiliary site
  • Parent or guardian and participant willing to comply with protocol and provide written/electronic informed consent and assent

Exclusion criteria

  • CHD of mild or simple complexity (Class I, 2018 AHA/ACC ACHD, Table 4)
  • Prior heart transplant to treat CHD
  • Heart disease that is not classified as structural CHD (e.g., connective tissue disease, genetic cardiomyopathy, or acquired heart disease)
  • Cognitive or developmental conditions that limit program participation and/or ability to complete self-reported measures as determined by a primary cardiology clinician
  • Suicidality, homicidality, or psychosis in the past 12 months as per medical chart review, clinician report, or eligibility screening
  • Medically unable to participate (e.g., intubated, unable to respond verbally, active delirium)

Treatment and study plan

Telemedicine-based resiliency-building intervention

Behavioral

Improving Access and Increasing Resilience through the WE BEAT Well-Being Education Program. The WE BEAT Well-Being Education Program was developed for pediatric patients with heart disease. The evidence-based components of the 5-module WE BEAT intervention are derived from cognitive behavioral theory, stress management and resiliency research, and behavioral intervention science across pediatric populations and adult heart disease. The five WE BEAT modules include: Well-being Education--Introduction, Breathe--Mindfulness and Relaxation-Based Skills, Energize--Positive Psychology Skills, Adjust--Cognitive Skills Training, and Thanks--Gratitude Practice. The objective is to foster positive psychological well-being and resilient outcomes in adolescents with CHD through a mental health promotion and prevention while providing access to safe, peer-to-peer community building. Through its group-based telemedicine delivery, the program aims to increase access to mental health care.

Primary outcomes

  1. Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC)

    Time frame: from baseline to week 5 (immediately post-intervention).

    Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale© (CD-RISC©) is a self-reported, unidimensional 5-point Likert scale measuring resilience. Total scores range from 0-40 with higher scores indicating greater resilience. It has been validated for use in children and adolescents across various countries.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC)

    Time frame: from baseline to Week 18, from baseline to week 30, from baseline to week 5 (for the subpopulation of participants with moderate to low baseline CD-RISC)

    Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale© (CD-RISC©) is a self-reported, unidimensional 5-point Likert scale measuring resilience. Total scores range from 0-40 with higher scores indicating greater resilience. It has been validated for use in children and adolescents across various countries.

  2. NIH Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Scales

    Time frame: from baseline to week 5, baseline to week 18, baseline to week 30

    NIH Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System® (PROMIS®) Scales is a self-reported, 5-point Likert scales measuring depressive symptoms (8 items); anxiety (8 items); meaning and purpose in life (4 items); life satisfaction (4 items).The NIH PROMIS® Scales have been validated for use in children with chronic health conditions ages 8-17 years old.

  3. Kessler-6 (K6)

    Time frame: from baseline to week 5, baseline to week 18, baseline to week 30

    Kessler-6 (K6) is a self-reported, 5-point Likert scale measuring general distress. Total scores range from 0-24 with higher scores indicating more psychological distress.

  4. PedsQL, Generic Core and Cardiac Module

    Time frame: from baseline to week 5, baseline to week 18, baseline to week 30

    PedsQL, Generic Core and Cardiac Module is a self-reported; 5-point Likert scale measuring health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Scores will be transformed to a 0-100 scale with higher scores indicating more positive HRQOL. The PedsQL™ Generic Core is widely used and includes four domains: Physical, Emotional, Social, and School functioning. The PedsQL™ Cardiac Module is administered in addition to the PedsQL™ Generic Core to gather cardiac-specific constructs important to QOL. Subscales include: Heart Problems and Treatment (e.g., symptoms, medical interventions), Treatment Barriers (e.g., difficulty accessing care, adherence with treatment), Perceived Physical Appearance (e.g., concerns related to scars, body image), Treatment Anxiety (e.g., worries about medical procedures and hospital visits), Cognitive Problems (e.g., difficulties in concentrating, memory issues), and Communication (e.g., ability to discuss condition and treatment with others).

  5. Life's Essential 8

    Time frame: from baseline to week 5, baseline to week 18, baseline to week 30

    Life's Essential 8 is a self-reported scoring tool measuring lifestyle behaviors. Items include assessment of diet, sleep, physical activity, and nicotine use/exposure.

  6. Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support

    Time frame: from baseline to week 5, baseline to week 18, baseline to week 30

    Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support is a self-reported; 7-point Likert scale measuring perceived social support. Total score ranges from 1-7 with higher scores indicating more perceived social support. Subscales include: family subscale, friends subscale, and significant other subscale.

  7. Self-Perceived Health Status

    Time frame: from baseline to week 5, baseline to week 18, baseline to week 30

    Self-Perceived Health Status is a self-reported; linear analog scale. Subjectively perceived health status will be measured with a linear analogue scale ranging from the ''worst imaginable health state'' (score of 0) to the ''best imaginable health state'' (score of 100).

  8. WE BEAT Survey

    Time frame: Intervention Participant Report at Week 5

    WE BEAT Survey is a self-reported. An investigator-designed survey used to gather WE BEAT session and overall program ratings and acceptability, as well as feedback and ideas for program improvement.

  9. Concentration of cortisone (biomarker of stress)

    Time frame: baseline, week 5, and week 30

    Hair cortisone levels will be assayed from hair samples

  10. Concentration of C-reactive protein (CRP) (biomarker of inflammation)

    Time frame: baseline, week 5, and week 30

    Concentration of C-reactive protein will be assayed from saliva samples

  11. Concentration of TNF-alpha (biomarker of inflammation)

    Time frame: baseline, week 5, and week 30

    Concentration of TNF-alpha will be assayed from saliva samples

  12. Concentration of IL-6 (biomarker of inflammation)

    Time frame: baseline, week 5, and week 30

    Concentration of IL-6 will be assayed from saliva samples

  13. Concentration of IL-8 (biomarker of inflammation)

    Time frame: baseline, week 5, and week 30

    Concentration of IL-8 will be assayed from saliva samples

  14. Biomarkers of aging

    Time frame: baseline, week 5, and week 30

    epigenetic markers of aging (from genome-wide epigenetic profiling) will be assayed from whole blood samples from all participants who opted to provide blood for the study

Study contacts

Contact information is provided by the study sponsor or research team.

Alliison Crosby-Thompson, MS

CONTACT

[email protected]

6179723285

Jessica E Teng, MPH

CONTACT

[email protected]

6179723047

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Carelon Research

Other

Collaborators

  • National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)

Registry information

Acronym: PHN WBC

Important dates

Study start
2026
Primary completion
2029
Study completion
2029
First posted
Apr 13, 2026
Registry last updated
Jul 17, 2026

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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