Alabama Veterans Rural Health Initiative

Health Behavior Clinical Trial

— AVRHI  

Official title:

Alabama Veterans Rural Health Initiative

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT01394081
• Other study ID #: 00134
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• First received: July 12, 2011
• Last updated: September 12, 2017
• Start date: October 1, 2008
• Est. completion date: October 1, 2013

Study information

• Verified date: September 2017
• Source: Tuscaloosa Research & Education Advancement Corporation
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The purpose of the Alabama Veterans Rural Health Initiative is to better understand access and barriers to health care and to enhance veteran enrollment or engagement in health care services of veterans residing in rural areas. It describes an intervention that is adaptable for use by other VA facilities that serve veterans in rural settings, and importantly, this study will improve our understanding of barriers to care and evaluate a method for enhancing access to care. The anticipated impact is that more veterans in rural areas who were previously under-utilizing VA services will receive and attend a health care appointment. This gain may improve preventative and primary care health care and reduce long term health care morbidity, expense and burden. This study may also identify previously unknown barriers to care that can be surmounted by innovative access and health care delivery approaches.

The primary objective is to evaluate an innovative approach for enhanced enrollment and engagement outreach intervention (EEE intervention) for rural veterans in VA health care services. This study entails a two-cell design, addressing this objective with a prospective, randomized controlled multi-site clinical trial that evaluates an active intervention compared to administrative outreach (AO, control condition) on whether or not a rurally-residing veteran obtains and attends a VA appointment.

Description:

Access, enrollment, and engagement with primary and specialty health care services present significant challenges for rural populations worldwide. The Alabama Veterans Rural Health Initiative evaluated an innovative outreach intervention combining motivational interviewing, patient navigation, and health services education to promote utilization of the United States Veterans Administration Healthcare System (VA) by veterans who live in rural locations.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 203
• Est. completion date: October 1, 2013
• Est. primary completion date: October 1, 2010
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 19 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Veterans who live in rural Alabama counties who have either never enrolled or have previously enrolled but have not accessed a VA in 2 years or more

• Signed informed consent

• Any race, social class or ethnicity

Exclusion Criteria:

• Pending active legal charges or current/expected incarceration

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Health Behavior
• Problems With Access to Health Care

Intervention

Other:
• Enhanced Engagement and Enrollment (EEE)
Consists of motivational interviewing, educational outreach, and patient navigation.
• Administrative Outreach (AO)
Consists of giving information about enrolling for VA medical care or scheduling an appointment

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	Birmingham VAMC	Birmingham	Alabama
United States	Tuscaloosa VAMC	Tuscaloosa	Alabama

Sponsors (4)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Tuscaloosa Research & Education Advancement Corporation	Tuscaloosa VA Medical Center, VA Office of Research and Development, VA Office of Rural Health

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

References & Publications (3)

Allen RS, Guadagno RE, Parmelee P, Minney JA, Hilgeman MM, Tabb KD, McNeil SF, Houston T, Kertesz S, Davis L. Internet connectivity among rural Alabama veterans: baseline findings from the Alabama Veterans Rural Health Initiative Project. Rural Remote Hea — View Citation

Hilgeman MM, Mahaney-Price AF, Stanton MP, McNeal SF, Pettey KM, Tabb KD, Litaker MS, Parmelee P, Hamner K, Martin MY, Hawn MT, Kertesz SG, Davis LL; Alabama Veterans Rural Health Initiative (AVRHI) Steering Committee. Alabama Veterans Rural Health Initia — View Citation

Mahaney-Price AF, Hilgeman MM, Davis LL, McNeal SF, Conner CM, Allen RS. Living will status and desire for living will help among rural Alabama veterans. Res Nurs Health. 2014 Oct;37(5):379-90. doi: 10.1002/nur.21617. Epub 2014 Aug 23. — View Citation

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Attendance at a VA Appointment	Attendance at a VA appointment was derived from VA clinical records, defined as the participant attending a scheduled VA clinic appointment. Participants who did not attend a VA clinic appointment be the end of 6-month observation period were classified as censored at 6 months.	6 months
Secondary	Days Until VA Clinic Appointment	The number of days from day of randomization to day that the participant attended the VA clinic appointment (derived from the VA medical records). Participants who did not attend a VA clinic appointment be the end of 6-month observation period were classified as censored at 6 months.	6 months