Georgie Burgess
29 September 2025: Claiming one life every 12 minutes, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major cause of death in Australia (Source: ) – and for one dedicated team at the 91Ö±²¥, reducing this deadly toll is the whole focus of their research.
“Here at the Active Heart Research Group, we’re working hard to improve the quality of life for people with heart disease. We want them to be able to live happier and healthier lives, to be able to do what they want to do, and to try and prevent something else from going wrong,” Associate Dean of Research in the Faculty of Health Dr Nicole Freene said.
Today marks the 25th anniversary of – an international event designed to raise awareness around CVD, as well as inspiring action and encouraging better heart health.
“I think having a day to reflect on what we can do to support such a large group of people and acknowledge their experiences with heart disease is really important,” Health Research Institute PhD candidate Jess Seymour said.
One of the projects currently underway from the University team is about gaining a better understanding around the types of messaging people with heart disease receive when it comes to physical activity.
“We know that, as a whole, the general population is not doing enough physical activity – but people with heart disease are doing even less, and there are plenty of barriers to that. One thing we want to understand is what impact the way we frame physical activity messaging has on changing outcomes,” Dr Freene said.
Research is currently in the data collection stage, with postdoctoral researcher at the University’s Health Research Institute (HRI), Annaleise Naylor diving deep into the lived experiences of those with heart disease.
“We’re getting that firsthand understanding of what it takes to create an effective message,” Ms Naylor said.
“We heard a lot that they’re just trying to unpack and understand what it means when we say, ‘do moderate intensity activity’, and what that looks like for them. So, it’s already showing us that we really do need to go beyond the generic information that is often given and instead break it down to a more detailed level. I think that is something that people with heart disease really need and definitely want.”
Meanwhile, work is also underway to analyse the data from the two-year-long Measure It! trial.
The project focused on brief five-minute measurement-based check-ins between clinicians and patients with heart disease, to help keep patients engaged with and accountable for their physical activity, with tools like wearable devices used to help participants track their goals.
“The idea of having a clinician check in and ask questions about their physical activity – for some people it really enabled them to reflect on their behaviour, and encouraged them to stay motivated, because they knew someone was going to ask them about their physical activity levels,” Ms Seymour said.
Next steps for the trial include creating a highly scalable, low-cost intervention model that can be used in cardiac rehabilitation programs to increase physical activity levels across the country.
“The clinicians found it was feasible to do ‘Measure It!’ which is a really important thing – because a big part of the work that the Active Heart Research Group does involves implementation science. We want to shorten the gap between getting the evidence to then seeing it in practice,” Dr Freene said.
But all Australians are encouraged to think about their heart health and what they can do today to help prevent illness in the future.
“Yes, this is a day for people living with heart disease, but it’s also a great day to have a conversation with everyone around you and ask, ‘Are you doing enough physical activity?’ then follow it up with going for a walk together or something else to get your heart beating a little faster,” Ms Naylor said.
For more information about the work being done by the Active Heart Research Group, email Dr Freene at nicole.freene@canberra.edu.au.