Clinical Trial Details
— Status: Completed
Administrative data
| NCT number |
NCT05595018 |
| Other study ID # |
Gerontechnology Delphi |
| Secondary ID |
|
| Status |
Completed |
| Phase |
|
| First received |
|
| Last updated |
|
| Start date |
October 21, 2022 |
| Est. completion date |
August 31, 2023 |
Study information
| Verified date |
November 2023 |
| Source |
The University of Hong Kong |
| Contact |
n/a |
| Is FDA regulated |
No |
| Health authority |
|
| Study type |
Observational
|
Clinical Trial Summary
The 4 studies aim to collect and examine the opinions from multiple stakeholders of
gerontechnology product including the demand side, funder, supply side and academia on
Gerontechnology Evaluation Framework. The Evaluation Framework will describe the essential
knowledge to conduct an evaluation study for 10 selected gerontechnology product themes in
local service settings. Specifically, we will (1) develop the indicators to determine if a
companion robot, which is one of the product themes, is 'good'; (2) describe feasible study
designs, implementation strategies and data analyses to generate evidenced-based evaluation
results of companion robots; (3) outline strategies to build organizational research capacity
to facilitate the evaluation of gerontechnology products.
In the Preparation Stage of all 4 studies, eligible participants will be recruited under
purposive sampling and snowball sampling. Literature review, qualitative interviews and
reflection on recent experience of evaluating gerontechnology products will be conducted. The
opinions collected from the stakeholders will facilitate questionnaire development for the
Delphi Stage. In the Delphi Stage of each of the 4 studies, there will be two rounds of
quantitative validation of the grouped statements to generate consensus. Based on the
opinions with consensus, the evaluation framework will be revised.
Description:
Study design For research question (1), two studies, i.e. Study A1 and A2, will be conducted.
Study A1 will conduct secondary data analyses on qualitative interviews and a two-round
questionnaire using Delphi techniques with end users. Study A2 will conduct focus groups and
a two-round questionnaire using Delphi techniques with decision makers. For research question
(2), Study B will employ a focus group and a real-time two-round questionnaire using Delphi
techniques with decision makers. For research question (3), Study C will employ a real-time
two-round questionnaire using Delphi techniques study with decision makers.
For all 4 studies, in the first Delphi round, panellists will rate anonymously the agreement
of the opinions on a 5-point Likert scale, give reasons for their ratings and suggest
revisions. They will then be presented with the overall analyses and their ratings in the
first round. In the second Delphi round, they will rate anonymously the agreement of the
revisions, and give reasons for their ratings.
Procedures Preparation Stage In Study A1, for qualitative interviews with product users, we
will do a secondary data analysis on individual qualitative interviews with 10 end users and
6 demand side - frontline. All of them were recruited from a residential care home and
previously participated in an intervention study using companion robot. Their answers to
questions related to 'good' companion robots will be analyzed by framework analysis. The
analyzed opinions, upon the approval of the investigators, will be listed as the
questionnaire items for use in Delphi part. Additional questionnaire items for the Delphi
part will be added based on the literature that explored the opinions of the product users
towards companion robots. For the Delphi part, 20 - 60 eligible visitors of Gerontech and
Innovation Expo, a local exhibition that provides a platform for stakeholders to discuss and
collaborate for broader adoption of gerontechnology, will be recruited by convenience
sampling at the time of Expo registration. Their voluntary written consent will be sought
before they complete the Delphi questionnaire. They will provide their email address and
contact number, so that they could be contacted to do second Delphi round.
In Study A2, for focus groups with decision makers, 5 - 20 decision makers who have joined
the development, evaluation or procurement process about companion robots will be purposively
recruited by investigators of the project through phone calls and emails. In particular,
demand side - managerial personnel will be recruited from the organizations that have adopted
companion robots in their service units. Academia will be recruited by purposive sampling on
the investigators who have publication(s) on gerontechnology in online databases of PubMed,
Web of Science, Cochrane, CINAHL, EMBASE, and by convenient sampling on the nursing educators
in the School of Nursing, the University of Hong Kong (HKU) will be conveniently recruited.
Funders to be recruited are the representatives nominated Innovation and Technology Fund
(that subsidizes social service units in renting and procuring gerontechnology products
including companion robots) and. Supply side who expressed willingness to the Hong Kong
Council of Social Service on providing companion robot(s) for trial test will be recruited.
Similar to Study A1, their opinions will be analyzed by framework analysis. The analyzed
opinions, upon the approval of the investigators, will be listed as the questionnaire items
for use in Delphi part. For the Delphi part, 15 - 40 eligible visitors of Gerontech and
Innovation Expo will be recruited following the same recruitment mechanism as the Delphi part
in Study A1.
In Study B, the same focus groups participants who join the focus groups in Study A2 are
simultaneously recruited. Their opinions in the focus groups will be analyzed by framework
analysis. The analyzed opinions, upon the approval of the investigators, will be listed as
the questionnaire items for use in Delphi part. For real-time Delphi questionnaires, in
addition to the above decision makers, snowball sampling will be adopted to recruit the
partners of Hong Kong Council of Social Service. These partners agreed to join discussions on
gerontechnology, and they are eligible to join the Delphi part no matter they have or do not
have experience in the development, evaluation or procurement process about companion robots.
In total 8 - 15 panelists will be recruited.
In Study C, the questionnaire used in the Delphi stage will contain a list of strategies in
enhancing the organizational research capacity, which are consolidated from literature review
and investigators' past experience in doing similar research. In the Delphi Stage, the
participants will be recruited in the same way as in Study B. In total 8 - 15 panelists will
be recruited.
Delphi Stage For all 4 studies, in the first Delphi round, panellists will rate anonymously
the agreement of the opinions on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to
5 (strongly agree), explain their ratings of 3 or less and suggest revisions (including
additions of new items). Upon the approval of the investigators, items will be revised
according to the suggestions. Items in the first Delphi round that reach moderate or low
consensus are revised, and rated in the second Delphi round together with the newly suggested
items. On the contrary, for items that reach very high consensus or high consensus, if no
revisions are suggested, they will not be rated again. Before the second Delphi round, the
panellists will be presented with the consensus level analyses, their own ratings in the
first round, and proposed revisions based on the comment on the analysis. Items with more
than 75% approval of the revised items will be included in the second round Delphi. In this
round, more panellists will be recruited to rate anonymously the agreement of the revised
items.
For Study A1 and A2, the second Delphi round is expected to take place two weeks after the
first Delphi round. For Study B and C that adopt real-time Delphi in a workshop, the
investigators will first present the materials consolidated in the Preparation Stage, and
panellists will immediately indicate the agreement of the materials in the first Delphi
round. This is followed by an open discussion of first round Delphi analysis results among
the panellists for around an hour. For diverse opinions on the same issue, different
scenarios favouring the opinions will be explored, and the opinions together with their
favouring scenarios will be listed in the second Delphi round. When the opinions are
consolidated, second Delphi round will then take place. The panellists will rate their
agreement on the suggested revisions.
