Project 456761

The leading cause of premature death for Canadian women is cardiovascular disease. Since 2017, death due to cardiovascular disease has increased in women in two high income countries: Canada and the United States. Narrowed heart arteries, stroke and heart failure are the most common causes of death in women. Younger women are dying of cardiovascular disease. Women struggle to recognize symptoms and to make lifestyle changes after they have a heart attack or stroke. On May 16th, 2021 The Lancet Commission released a call to action to reduce cardiovascular death in women by 2030. This includes educating women and evaluating interventions used for women with cardiovascular disease. Peer support interventions have improved recovery, hope and empowerment in other people (e.g., those with mental illness) but the evidence for peer support interventions in women with cardiovascular disease is unknown. Peer support is defined as helping others who are equal by providing information and encouragement. Our overall goal is to describe the use of peer support interventions for women with cardiovascular disease using an evidence map. We have women with cardiovascular disease on our research team and we are working with the Canadian Women's Heart Health Alliance to complete this evidence map review. We have done this before so are well-positioned to complete this review within one year. We will use a theory to guide our work so that we can extract data and identify gaps in peer support interventions that relate to age, race and ethnicity, and gender (identity, roles, relations, institutionalized). We will also look at how (e.g., one-on-one, group, on-line) and where (e.g., home, hospital) peer support interventions are delivered, as well as outcomes for women (e.g., health status) and the healthcare system (cost). This evidence map will identify gaps that will be used to inform future peer support intervention studies and other in-depth reviews and summaries.