CHERL, Connecting Primary Care Patients With Community Resources to Facilitate Behavior Change

Tobacco Use Disorder Clinical Trial

Official title:

CHERL, Connecting Primary Care Patients With Community Resources to Facilitate Behavior Change

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT00269009
• Other study ID #: 61-9165
• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: Phase 1
• First received: December 22, 2005
• Last updated: January 10, 2007
• Start date: January 2006
• Est. completion date: February 2007

Study information

• Verified date: September 2006
• Source: Great Lakes Research Into Practice Network
• Contact: Annette M Sokolnicki
• Phone: 517/353-0772
• Email: annette.sokolnicki[@]hc.msu.edu
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Health authority: United States: Institutional Review Board
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The investigators want to find out if providing a Community Health Educator Referral Liaison (CHERL) helps practices help their patients change risky behaviors (tobacco use, physical inactivity, unhealthy diet, and risky drinking) by connecting patients to available services in the community or directly providing behavior change support.

Description:

What is this about? Prescription for Health (P4H) is a national initiative funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Nine projects have been funded nationally in this second round to advance the goals of improving health behavior identification and delivery in primary care practice. Each project is conducted through a practice-based research network (PBRN). In Michigan, our PBRN is called the Great Lakes Research In Practice Network (GRIN).

What is the purpose of the CHERL project? In our study, we want to find out if providing a Community Health Educator Referral Liaison (CHERL) helps practices help their patients change risky behaviors (tobacco use, physical inactivity, unhealthy diet, and risky drinking) by connecting patients to available services in the community or directly providing behavior change support.

Primary care providers play a key roll in encouraging patients to choose healthy behaviors. However, effective behavior change requires long term follow up and support that may not be readily available within the office practice. CHERL can help provide or link to those services thus helping the healthy message promoted by the clinician to have a more powerful and lasting effect.

What is the CHERL intervention? With this funding, we will hire and train a CHERL to work with practices. The purpose of the CHERL is for him/her to help secure behavior change support for your patients either by referring to an available resource within the community or directly providing the service. This service is available to patients with or without chronic disease diagnoses (i.e, patients with diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, obesity, back pain, lung disease, or generally healthy with opportunities to change unhealthy habits).

Patients are referred to the CHERL and he/she will determine an appropriate next step for your patient – either referral to a community program or the CHERL will provide brief telephone counseling. The health care provider will receive feedback specifically on each patient referred.

In addition, some practices (consultant-enhanced) will receive additional assistance from the CHERL, as he/she serves as a consultant to the practice, helping the practice to identify systematic mechanisms for identification and referral of at risk patients to the CHERL.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Recruiting
• Enrollment: 0
• Est. completion date: February 2007
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: Both
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients, clinicians, and their staff participating in this GRIN study.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients, clinicians, and their staff who are not participating in this GRIN study.

Study Design

Allocation: Randomized, Endpoint Classification: Efficacy Study, Intervention Model: Crossover Assignment, Masking: Double-Blind, Primary Purpose: Educational/Counseling/Training

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Alcohol Abuse
• Hypokinesia
• Lack of Physical Activity
• Poor Diet
• Tobacco Use Disorder

Intervention

Behavioral:
• CHERL

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	Genesys Health System	Flint	Michigan
United States	MCRC	Grand Rapids	Michigan
United States	UP Health Education Corporation	Marquette	Michigan

Sponsors (10)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Great Lakes Research Into Practice Network	Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Genesee Health Plan, Genesys Health System, Grand Rapids Medical Education and Research Center for Health Professions, Greater Flint Health Coalition, Marquette General Health System, Michigan Department of Community Health, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Upper Peninsula Health Education Corporation;

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	The primary outcome of interest is the referral rate for any unhealthy behavior to the CHERL with the predictor variable being referral-only versus consultant-enhanced practices.
Secondary	Aim 2 of the study is to determine if the patients referred to the CHERL demonstrate health behavior improvements.