SCALE UP

The goal of SCALE-UP is to improve access to Pulmonary Rehabilitation (PR) for patients with chronic respiratory diseases, as uptake and adherence to traditional centre-based PR programs are low. The project will co-design a hybrid PR intervention (combining face-to-face and remote delivery), considering key stakeholders’ needs and preferences and supported by the best available evidence. Key outputs include a prototype of the hybrid PR intervention and guidance for its use.

Keywords: chronic respiratory diseases, exercise training, participatory co-design, pulmonary rehabilitation

Principal Investigator: Joana Cruz ( joana.cruz@ipleiria.pt )

Research Team:

• ciTechCare: Cândida Silva (candida.silva@ipleiria.pt), Nádia Hipólito (nadia.hipolito@ipleiria.pt), Pedro Machado (pedro.machado@ipleiria.pt), Sara Pimenta (sara.p.pimenta@ipleiria.pt), Sofia Flora (sofia.flora@ipleiria.pt)
• LiDA: Marco Monteiro, Sandra Neves
• CIIC: Fernando Silva, José Ribeiro, Rolando Miragaia

Duration: 36 months (2025 – 2028)

Consultants:

• Fátima Rodrigues – Pulmonology Department, Local Unit of Health Santa Maria; Environmental Health Behaviour Lab., Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon (ISAMB/FMUL) (Lisbon, Portugal)
• Alda Marques – Lab 3R – Respiratory Research and Rehabilitation Laboratory, School of Health Sciences (ESSUA); Institute of Biomedicine (iBiMED), University of Aveiro (Aveiro, Portugal)
• Chris Burtin – Rehabilitation Research Center (REVAL), Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences, Hasselt University (Diepenbeek, Belgium)

• Dina Brooks – School of Rehabilitation Science, McMaster University (Hamilton, Canada); Respiratory Medicine, West Park Healthcare Centre (Toronto, Canada)

Reference:  2023.16009.ICDT, https://doi.org/10.54499/2023.16009.ICDT

Funding: COMPETE2030 – Portugal 2030, cofunded by FEDER/European Union; Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia