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CompletedNCT03980808ASL-ADEUpdated Jul 10, 2023Results posted

American Sign Language-Accessible Diabetes Education

An interventional study of American Sign Language-Accessible Diabetes Education and Control Intervention in Diabetes and Deafness, sponsored by Georgia Institute of Technology. Completed at 2 sites in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 89 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2023-07-10.

Sponsored by Georgia Institute of Technology · Not applicable, Interventional, and Other

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
41
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 89 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

ASL-ADE will evaluate the efficacy of an ASL-interpreted diabetes educational intervention to the end of improving the health literacy of the target population and addressing their disparate health outcomes.

Read the detailed description

Georgia Tech's Center for Advanced Communications Policy (CACP) proposes the American Sign Language Accessible Diabetes Education (ASL-ADE) project in response to the Georgia Center for Diabetes Translation Research for a pilot and feasibility study on "Type II translation research in diabetes care and prevention." ASL-ADE will conduct an efficacy study, in the Engagement and Behavior Change Core, with the long-term objective of improved health outcomes for individuals who are Deaf and primarily communicate using ASL. The project will demonstrate the need for diabetes educational materials to be accessible to people who are Deaf and rely on ASL for clear and effective communications. ASL is a distinct language used by individuals of the Deaf community and is grammatically dissimilar to English. Some people who are Deaf rely primarily on ASL and have limited English proficiency. , Other people who are deaf are comfortable with written English. Due to the language diversity within this community, diabetes health education materials are not always accessible. For example, there are low levels of general health literacy among people who are Deaf which increases risk for developing chronic illnesses, , , including diabetes. As such, people who are Deaf also have an increased risk for acute complications associated with diabetes. The low level of health literacy among the target population is directly related to communication/language barriers, as much of the health education outreach mechanisms are exclusionary because of their use of audio and print materials. The hearing population can benefit from incidental learning such as overhearing conversations and watching the news, even commercials. It is a form of socialization that is often taken for granted by people who can hear. To address this access gap, the goals of ASL-ADE are to provide accessible materials to improve health literacy and (1) impact awareness of risk factors, preventive measures, and diabetes symptoms, and (2) elicit the desired behavioral response to seek medical care and modify health-related behaviors. The proposed project will produce a video-based ASL interpreted diabetes educational intervention, and using a pretest-posttest (immediate) 30-day posttest quasi-experimental design, evaluate the effect of the educational intervention on knowledge about diabetes and related health behavior changes. Data will be analyzed along the dimensions of diagnosis status to measure if there is variance in scores for people who are Deaf with a diabetes diagnosis compared to their non-diagnosed counterparts; the a priori hypothesis being that given the communication barriers experienced by people who are Deaf, that no significant between-group differences will be found on pretest scores based on diagnosis status.

This description is revised to exclude analysis along the dimensions of age because our sample did not contain enough subjects between the ages of 18-30 to run a comparison.

02

Conditions studied

  • Diabetes
  • Deafness

Keywords

  • Diabetes
  • Deafness
03

In context

Deafness

609 studies on the registry are indexed under Deafness; 111 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 41 is close to the median of 40 across 411 interventional studies indexed under Deafness.

Browse Deafness studies →

Lead sponsor

Georgia Institute of Technology is the lead sponsor of 24 studies on the registry; 5 are open to participants now.

Of its 9 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 7 (78%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 89 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

  • 18 years old or older
  • Deaf
  • Primary language is American Sign Language
  • Approximately one-half of the sample must have a diabetes diagnosis.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Minors
  • People whose primary language is not ASL
  • Individuals unable to provide consent due to impaired decision-making
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Other
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Factorial assignment
Masking
Single (Participant)
Enrollment
41 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    ASL-ADE Intervention Arm

    One-half of enrolled participants will view the ASL-ADE video intervention.

    Behavioral: American Sign Language-Accessible Diabetes Education

  • Sham comparator
    Control Arm

    One-half of enrolled participants will view a non-health related video approximately the same length as the video intervention.

    Behavioral: Control Intervention

Interventions

  • BehavioralAmerican Sign Language-Accessible Diabetes Education

    Video-based ASL interpreted diabetes educational intervention (ASL-ADE), the content of which will be derived from diabetes health information regarding symptoms and risk factors that are published by the U.S. Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institute for Health (NIH) National Diabetes Education Program.

    Also known as: ASL-ADE

  • BehavioralControl Intervention

    Non-health related video approximately the same length as ASL-ADE.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Diabetes Health Literacy Score

    Data were collected using a study-specific, knowledge-based Diabetes Health Literacy measure which included 15 forced-choice, closed-ended questions to allow for a total score ranging from 0 to 15, with higher scores reflecting better diabetes health literacy. Analysis of change of knowledge compared differences between the intervention arm and the control arm as measured by the changes to the composite scores of the knowledge-based test. One factor Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to calculate the differences with an a priori alpha level of 0.05.

    Time frame: The outcome measure results reflect a comparison of the pre and posttest immediate scores.

  2. Frequency of Engagement in Diabetes-Related Health Behaviors

    Data were collected using a study-specific questionnaire titled Your Health Behaviors that measure the frequency of diabetes-related health behaviors for a total score ranging from 7 to 35. Each of the diabetes behaviors (physical activity, work physical activity, cigarettes, smoking cessation, alcohol consumption, vegetable consumption, fruit consumption, grain consumption, junk food consumption, fast food consumption) had multiple choice answers that were scaled from 1 - n, with n being the number of options. The least healthy choice was assigned "1", the most healthy choice was assigned "n". Analysis of change in behavior compared differences between the intervention arm and the control arm as measured by the changes in the composite scores of the behavioral intervention. One factor Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to compare the differences with an a priori level of 0.05.

    Time frame: The outcome measure results for the Your Health Behaviors measure are a comparison between the pretest and the 30-day follow-up.

07

Results

Posted Sep 27, 2022

Participant flow

Participant recruitment began on October 27, 2020. Participants were recruited from DeafLink's nationwide reach into the Deaf community.

Participant flow — Overall Study
MilestoneASL-ADE Intervention ArmControl Arm
Started2417
Phase 2 - 30-day follow-up2417
Completed2215
Not completed22
Withdrew: Lost to follow-up22

Outcome measures

PrimaryDiabetes Health Literacy Score

Data were collected using a study-specific, knowledge-based Diabetes Health Literacy measure which included 15 forced-choice, closed-ended questions to allow for a total score ranging from 0 to 15, with higher scores reflecting better diabetes health literacy. Analysis of change of knowledge compared differences between the intervention arm and the control arm as measured by the changes to the composite scores of the knowledge-based test. One factor Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to calculate the differences with an a priori alpha level of 0.05.

Time frame:
The outcome measure results reflect a comparison of the pre and posttest immediate scores.
Reported as:
Mean · score on a scale
Diabetes Health Literacy Score
score on a scaleASL-ADE Intervention ArmControl Arm
Diabetes Health Literacy Score1.30 (-.05 to 2.65)1.38 (-1.15 to 3.90)
Statistical analysis
  • ASL-ADE Intervention Arm vs Control Arm · ANOVA · p = 0.95 · Mean difference (net): 1.33Total degrees of freedom (dof) = 17, with between groups dof = 1 and within groups dof = 16.
PrimaryFrequency of Engagement in Diabetes-Related Health Behaviors

Data were collected using a study-specific questionnaire titled Your Health Behaviors that measure the frequency of diabetes-related health behaviors for a total score ranging from 7 to 35. Each of the diabetes behaviors (physical activity, work physical activity, cigarettes, smoking cessation, alcohol consumption, vegetable consumption, fruit consumption, grain consumption, junk food consumption, fast food consumption) had multiple choice answers that were scaled from 1 - n, with n being the number of options. The least healthy choice was assigned "1", the most healthy choice was assigned "n". Analysis of change in behavior compared differences between the intervention arm and the control arm as measured by the changes in the composite scores of the behavioral intervention. One factor Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to compare the differences with an a priori level of 0.05.

Time frame:
The outcome measure results for the Your Health Behaviors measure are a comparison between the pretest and the 30-day follow-up.
Reported as:
Mean · score on a scale
Frequency of Engagement in Diabetes-Related Health Behaviors
score on a scaleASL-ADE Intervention ArmControl Arm
Frequency of Engagement in Diabetes-Related Health Behaviors.2381 (-1.1343 to 2.6205)2.0625 (0.2532 to 3.8718)
Statistical analysis
  • ASL-ADE Intervention Arm vs Control Arm · ANOVA · p = 0.093 · Mean difference (net): 1.03

Adverse events

Collected over 3 months.. Non-serious events are listed at a 0% frequency threshold.

Adverse event summary by group
GroupDeathsSeriousOther
ASL-ADE Intervention Arm0/24 (0%)0/24 (0%)0/24 (0%)
Control Arm0/17 (0%)0/17 (0%)0/17 (0%)

Baseline characteristics

Adults who are Deaf and whose primary language is Americal Sign Language (ASL), some with a diabetes diagnosis and some without. Participants were randomly assigned to either an intervention group or a control group.

Age, Categorical
Age, Categorical(Participants)ASL-ADE Intervention ArmControl ArmTotal
<=18 years000
Between 18 and 65 years201535
>=65 years426
Age, Continuous
Age, Continuous(Years)ASL-ADE Intervention ArmControl ArmTotal
Mean52.42 ± 12.3350.47 ± 12.7651.6 ± 12.4
Sex/Gender, Customized
Sex/Gender, Customized(Participants)ASL-ADE Intervention ArmControl ArmTotal
Female9514
Male141226
Non-Binary101
Race/Ethnicity, Customized
Race/Ethnicity, Customized(Participants)ASL-ADE Intervention ArmControl ArmTotal
Asian or Indian527
Black, African American, or West Indian325
Hispanic, Latino or Spanish Origin, regardless of race549
More than one race459
White or Caucasian7411
Region of Enrollment
Region of Enrollment(participants)ASL-ADE Intervention ArmControl ArmTotal
United States241741
Deaf
Deaf(Participants)ASL-ADE Intervention ArmControl ArmTotal
Count of participants241741
Diabetes Diagnosis (Yes)
Diabetes Diagnosis (Yes)(Participants)ASL-ADE Intervention ArmControl ArmTotal
Count of participants11920
08

Study locations

2 sites
  • Center for Advanced Communications Policy
    Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States
  • Deaf Link, Inc.
    San Antonio, Texas 78232, United States
09

References and documents

Study documents

  • Study protocol · Dec 16, 2021
  • Statistical analysis plan · Dec 16, 2021
  • Informed consent form · Sep 15, 2020

Documents are hosted by the registry — open the source record to download them.

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Yes — Data will be submitted to the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) to allow open, equitable and effective use of the data. Within the ICPSR, we anticipate our data will closely align with existing collections related to Behavioral Sciences, Health Management and Policy, and Disability Concerns. Individual participant data that underlie the results reported in this article, after deidentification (text, tables, figures, and appendices) will be shared. Other documents to be shared include the study protocol and statistical analysis. These items will be shared immediately following publication (and with no end date) with researchers who provide a methodologically sound proposal for the purpose of achieving the aims of the proposal. Proposals should be directed to salimah@cacp.gatech.edu. To gain access, data requestors will need to sign a data access agreement. Data are available at a third-party website.

Supporting information: Study protocol, Sap

10

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jul 10, 2023, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
11

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03980808
Lead sponsor
Georgia Institute of Technology
Collaborators
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Jun 10, 2019
Start date
Oct 29, 2020
Primary completion
Jan 26, 2021
Completion
Jan 26, 2021
Results posted
Sep 27, 2022
Last update
Jul 10, 2023

Study contacts

Muslimah "Salimah" S LaForce
principal investigator · Georgia Institute of Technology

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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