An interventional study of Facebook group in Asthma, sponsored by Massachusetts General Hospital. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 14 Years to 17 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2020-09-01.
Sponsored by Massachusetts General Hospital · Not applicable, Interventional, and Health services research
The investigators hypothesize that at the end of the 12-month trial, teenagers regularly self-monitoring their asthma control with ACT administered through Facebook will have improved ACT scores as compared with teenagers receiving usual care.
The investigators propose to administer the Asthma Control Test (ACT), a clinically validated and reliable measure of asthma control, to a pediatric pulmonary patient population, using novel channels to improve usage of the tool and health outcomes. The investigators will administer ACT to patients using Facebook to monitor asthma control and notify clinicians when there is deterioration of control.
The goal is to improve health outcomes in patients with asthma by measuring adherence to the use of monitoring tool, follow-up visits to their specialist, and hospitalization/Emergency Department (ED) visits. To achieve this, the investigators will use a novel technology platform that is simple, secure, private and easily scalable to other relevant sites and groups, without the need for additional investment. Currently, patients take the ACT survey only during their scheduled office appointments. The aim of the study is to increase the use of ACT to monitor patients who see a pediatric pulmonologist to promote regular self-monitoring.
ACT is a short symptom-based survey consisting of 5 questions, validated in English and Spanish. Participants will receive reminders on Facebook every month to login to the study website to complete the ACT survey therefore allowing patients to easily take the survey on a regular basis, and receive reminders and educational content in the media spaces they already inhabit. Participants would receive reminders and links in the same way they would receive other reminders or notifications from Facebook. The system will rate asthma control and send patients and their specialist notification of status if it reaches critical levels, defined as a score of 14 or lower on the ACT survey. This will be a system generated notification, based on a protocol developed in conjunction with the physicians at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) pediatric pulmonary department.
The intervention will study the efficacy of electronic social networks in engaging teenagers in their asthma control over time, using a simple but effective symptom-based survey tool. Both patients and providers would receive notifications in case of deteriorating control, which could result in early intervention and lead to better clinical outcomes by prompting timely intervention by the clinician. The Center for Connected Health (CCH) will work with the MGH Department of Pulmonology, as well as the Pediatric Asthma group at Partners Community HealthCare Inc. (PCHI) to enroll ambulatory teenagers with asthma in the research study for one year.
120 participants will be enrolled and randomly assigned to one of two groups.
3,921 studies on the registry are indexed under Asthma; 507 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 120 is above the median of 83 across 2,752 interventional studies indexed under Asthma.
Browse Asthma studies →Massachusetts General Hospital is the lead sponsor of 2,536 studies on the registry; 446 are open to participants now.
Of its 214 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 161 (75%) have results posted.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Exclusion Criteria:
Participants will continue to receive medical care from their doctor as usual. Participants will have access to this study website at the start and at the end of the study.
Participants will continue to receive medical care from their doctor as usual. Participants will have access to the study website at all times throughout the study. Participants will have access to the secret study group on Facebook for 12 months. Participants will take the ACT survey once a month for 12 months.
Other: Facebook group
Facebook will be used to remind participants to take the ACT survey once every month for 12 months.
Asthma Control Test (ACT) scores
Assess the effect of the Facebook intervention (also referred to as "Connect 2 My ACT" intervention on trends of ACT scores in teenagers diagnosed with asthma
Time frame: 0 to 12 months
Emergency Department (ED) visits and Hospital Admissions
Compare frequency of ED and hospital admissions between the intervention and control groups
Time frame: 0 to 12 months
Engagement
To assess participant engagement in the program (total number of times ACT survey taken divided by 12)
Time frame: 0 to 12 months
Provider engagement
To assess provider engagement in the program (# of times reached out to patient when alerted)
Time frame: 0 to 12 months
Patient engagement and Emergency Department (ED) visits
To correlate participant engagement with change in ED visits and hospital admissions.
Time frame: 0 to12 months
Satisfaction with intervention
To assess usability and satisfaction with the Facebook study group by administering a survey at completion of study
Time frame: at 12 months
Change in knowledge about asthma
To assess changes in level of knowledge about asthma using the Asthma Self-Management Questionnaire, a standardized and validated survey instrument
Time frame: 0 to12 months
This study is completed, as verified in Aug 2020. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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