Every participant who completed the intake survey for baseline data collection will receive the FRAME intervention via email in April 2026.

Foundation, Recognition, Awareness, Management and Engagement (FRAME) is a multi-component, co-designed web tool created in collaboration with patient partners, caregivers, healthcare providers, and Archipel and Great River Ontario Health Teams. It is designed to improve recognition, awareness, management and support for mental health in patients with heart failure. There are three different versions: one for healthcare providers, one for caregivers and one for patients. The intervention includes educational material about heart failure and mental health, conversational support to help facilitate discussions about mental health, self-management activity maps (e.g., tips about nutrition and exercise), asset maps (i.e., displaying available resources), and the provider-facing discussion tool to help initiate conversations about mental health and guide referrals or supports. FRAME was developed through a co-design process informed by the lived experiences of community partners.

This outcome measures whether patients with heart failure report having a discussion about mental health with their healthcare provider or loved ones after being introduced to FRAME. This will be measured by changes in response to two questions in a survey given to participants pre- and post-intervention. These questions will ask if in the past 6 months, they have discussed mental health with a healthcare provider or if in the past 6 months, they have discussed mental health with their loved ones. The responses will include strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree and strongly agree. The intervention will be rolled out, after which they can respond to the post-intervention survey anytime until the study closes. Change in response from pre-intervention to post-intervention will be assessed.

This outcome evaluates whether participants (patients) report accessing mental health-related support, following the FRAME intervention. Supports may include formal resources (e.g., referrals to psychological services), informal or community-based support (e.g., peer groups, faith-based programs), and self-management strategies (e.g., mindfulness, exercise, online tools). This outcome will be measured in pre-post intervention surveys with the participants. The question will ask if, in the past 6 months, they have used community-based supports or if, in the past 6 months, they have used self-management strategies. Below these questions, there will be a list of the supports/strategies, and beside them will be checkboxes with the frequency of access. The options for this will be N/A, never, once, 2-3 times, every month and weekly or more. Change in response from pre-intervention to post-intervention will be assessed.