Clinical Trial Details
— Status: Completed
Administrative data
| NCT number |
NCT03975400 |
| Other study ID # |
19-0266 |
| Secondary ID |
5R34MH120790-03 |
| Status |
Completed |
| Phase |
N/A
|
| First received |
|
| Last updated |
|
| Start date |
April 22, 2020 |
| Est. completion date |
May 31, 2023 |
Study information
| Verified date |
October 2023 |
| Source |
Northwell Health |
| Contact |
n/a |
| Is FDA regulated |
No |
| Health authority |
|
| Study type |
Interventional
|
Clinical Trial Summary
There is compelling evidence that longer duration of untreated psychosis independently
predicts negative outcomes. The proposal aims to explore whether targeted and proactive
online outreach through search engine advertisements, coupled with engaging, informative, and
interactive online resources, can effectively reduce the duration of untreated psychosis and
facilitate earlier treatment initiation in New York State. Results from this initiative will
be critical to informing the subsequent design and conduct of larger, focused, and proactive
digital media campaigns targeting patient with First Episode Psychosis and their caregivers
online, intended to accelerate linkage to care and reduce the duration of untreated psychosis
throughout the U.S.
Description:
Approximately 100,000 individuals in the Unites States experience a first episode of
psychosis (FEP) each year. Psychotic symptoms typically emerge during formative years of
adolescence and young adult development and interfere with the establishment of healthy
educational, vocational, and social foundations. Despite the severity of symptoms and
significant decline in functioning, the time between symptom onset and receiving appropriate
care in the U.S. is alarmingly lengthy. Longer Duration of Untreated Psychosis (DUP) has been
shown to independently predict negative outcomes, including poorer response to treatment,
worse global, vocational, social, and cognitive functioning, greater risk of relapse, higher
symptom severity, and poorer quality of life. Prior successful DUP reduction initiatives have
utilized various marketing strategies to educate the community about early intervention
services, however these strategies are expensive, inefficient, and outdated. Targeted online
outreach, supported by technological innovation, offers the prospect of proactively reaching
individuals earlier in the course of illness development, as well as individuals who might
not otherwise come into contact with traditional referral sources. In response to this
challenge, Northwell Health's early psychosis research team is collaborating with Strong365,
a nonprofit initiative dedicated to raising early psychosis intervention awareness, to
develop and test a proactive and targeted comprehensive digital media marketing campaign
designed to facilitate help-seeking and encourage treatment initiation in prospective
patients with FEP and their caregivers. Investigators will take advantage of search engine
advertisements, which allow advertisers (researchers) to select keywords/phrases and create
linked ads appearing as a strategically placed search result. Dedicated ads will appear in
response to online search queries conducted by prospective patients and their caregivers
throughout New York State (NYS) that align with the campaign's pre-selected keywords/phrases.
Individuals who click on the ads will be immediately directed to a landing page/website, and
offered a variety of innovative and interactive online engagement tools intended to instantly
connect users with specialty care staff and to facilitate earlier treatment initiation.
Campaign referrals will be centralized and individuals with FEP will be enrolled into
OnTrackNY (OTNY), a network of 21 dedicated early psychosis intervention programs throughout
NYS. The campaign will target individuals as well as their caregivers, searching for
psychosis-related terms or information online. Investigators will measure the DUP of
individuals enrolled into OTNY before and after campaign activation and track the impact of
the campaign on the number of FEP referrals and number of patients admitted to OTNY in NYS.
Furthermore, investigators aim to identify the campaign target audience most effective at
promoting treatment initiation as well as the online tools and resources most effective at
encouraging treatment initiation for individuals with FEP. Investigators will additionally
explore the online trajectories to care of individuals with FEP engaging with the campaign.
