Virtual Teach-to-Goal Education vs. Brief Education for Children

Asthma Clinical Trial

— V-TTG vs BI  

Official title:

A Randomized Clinical Trial Evaluating the Effectiveness of Virtual Teach-to-Goal Education vs. Brief Intervention for Children

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT04373499
• Other study ID #: 18-1080
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: January 16, 2019
• Est. completion date: December 31, 2020

Study information

• Verified date: April 2021
• Source: University of Chicago
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of two different ways to teach hospitalized children how to use a metered dose inhaler and to follow-up after discharge home from the hospital to determine durability of the education.

Description:

Asthma is the most common chronic childhood condition and has significant adverse consequences. One in 12 United States children has asthma, resulting in 13.4 million missed school days, 1 million emergency department visits, and 140,000 hospitalizations annually.

A key barrier to self-management of asthma is improper use of respiratory inhalers, which limits disease control. Better inhaler technique is associated with improved asthma outcomes for children. Assessment and education of inhaler technique are recommended at all healthcare encounters, however it is limited in practice because it is resource intensive (both personnel and time) and lacks fidelity. Thus, low-resource interventions that accurately teach inhaler skills are needed to impact pediatric asthma outcomes.

Teach-to-Goal (TTG) is a patient-centered strategy that uses tailored rounds of teaching and assessments to ensure mastery of inhaler technique. Studies show it is effective but resource intensive. A "virtual TTG" (V-TTG) intervention represents an opportunity to deliver inhaler technique education with a high-fidelity, low-resource, and feasible strategy. The module utilizes innovative learning technology with video demonstrations and assessment questions to tailor education to each user; the cycles of assessment and education continues until satisfactory mastery is achieved.

This study evaluates the comparative effectiveness of this high-fidelity, low-resource, and feasible model (V-TTG) versus a standardized brief intervention that mimics usual care to deliver tailored inhaler technique education to children with severe asthma via a randomized clinical trial.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 70
• Est. completion date: December 31, 2020
• Est. primary completion date: February 27, 2020
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 5 Years to 10 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

1. The child is between the ages of 5-10 years old

2. The child is admitted for an asthma exacerbation, wheezing, or bronchospasm

3. The child is admitted to the Pediatric Hospital Medicine Service at Comer Children's Hospital

4. The child is prescribed albuterol

Exclusion Criteria:

1. The child/parent decline or unable to provide consent/assent, do not speak/read English

2. The child cannot use an inhaler by themselves without a mask

3. The child previously participated in this study

4. The child is currently in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU)

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Asthma
• Bronchial Spasm
• Bronchospasm
• Dyspnea
• Shortness of Breath

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Virtual Teach to Goal
Virtual Teach-to-Goal is an educational module that teaches children how to use their inhaler properly; this is done with an IPAD. In the module, the child will complete a series of questions as a pre-assessment, watch a video about how to use the inhaler properly, and then answer a series of questions as a post-assessment. If a child answers any questions incorrectly, they will watch the video again and have another chance to answer the incorrect questions. The child will receive instruction by video one or multiple times (up to 3 times), depending on how much they understand after each round of instruction, as demonstrated by their responses to questions.
• Brief Intervention
There is a handout that describes proper inhaler technique. The RA reads the handout to the child.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	University of Chicago Medicine	Chicago	Illinois

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of Chicago	CHEST Foundation

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Proportion of participants with metered dose inhaler (MDI) misuse immediately after V-TTG vs. BI education	Evaluate effectiveness of V-TTG as compared to BI as measured by inhaler technique post-intervention. This will provide data on the short-term effectiveness of the interventions. Each patient's inhaler technique will be assessed using validated inhaler checklists by the trained assessor.	Initial study visit / baseline
Secondary	Acceptability of V-TTG among children and parents based on Likert-scale questions (1-5)	Questionnaires of children and parents immediately after completing the V-TTG intervention. Likert-scale questions will focus on whether children and parents like the V-TTG education, would be willing to use, and would recommend to a friend.	Initial study visit - after completing V-TTG intervention
Secondary	Usability of V-TTG among children and parents based on open-ended questions	Interviews with children and parents immediately after completing the V-TTG intervention. Open-ended questions will be utilized to assess what children and parents like or do not like about the module and how it could be utilized in clinical settings, at home, at school.	Initial study visit - after completing V-TTG intervention
Secondary	Proportion of participants with metered dose inhaler (MDI) misuse in VTTG vs BI arms at 1 month after education	Retention of proper inhaler technique skills	Follow-up visit at 1 month
Secondary	Self-efficacy: Questionnaire	Questionnaire with Likert-scale questions (1-5) to assess self-efficacy about inhaler technique pre vs post intervention	Initial study visit - at baseline and immediately after intervention