An interventional study of Digital Nudges for Motivational Interviewing (MI) Micro-Skills Reinforcement in Hypertension (Without Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus), sponsored by National University Polyclinics, Singapore. Active, not recruiting at 1 site in Singapore. Open to participants aged 21 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-11-06.
Sponsored by National University Polyclinics, Singapore · Not applicable, Interventional, and Health services research
The goal of this clinical trial is to improve hypertensive patients' systolic blood pressure (SBP) through increased application of MI micro-skills by mitigating known implementation barriers through a structured reinforcement programme delivered via digital nudges to Primary Care Healthcare Professionals (HCPs).
Secondary goals include examining implementation outcome measures through validated instruments, and participants' confidence levels in the application of MI that will be measured by a pre-and-post intervention short survey.
The main questions it aims to answer are:
Researchers will compare HCPs assigned to the intervention group with those assigned to the control group to determine whether structured reinforcement improves MI practice and is associated with differences in patient blood pressure outcomes.
Participants will:
Patient blood pressure data from eligible patients with hypertension managed by participating healthcare professionals will be extracted from routine clinical records in a de-identified manner for analysis.
This pilot two-arm parallel-group randomized controlled trial evaluates the effectiveness of a structured reinforcement programme designed to support the application of Motivational Interviewing (MI) micro-skills among primary care healthcare professionals (HCPs).
Although MI is an evidence-based approach for supporting positive health behaviour changes in patients, its implementation in routine clinical practice remains challenging due to competing priorities, time constraints, the complexity of MI techniques, and limited opportunities for reinforcement following formal training. This study seeks to address the "knowing-doing gap" by providing structured reinforcement after initial MI training.
Eligible doctors and nurses who have previously attended an introductory MI training workshop will be randomized to either an intervention group or a control group. Randomization will be stratified by profession to ensure balanced representation of doctors and nurses across study arms.
Participants assigned to the intervention group will receive a structured reinforcement programme delivered through a Microsoft Teams channel over a 17-week period. The intervention consists of bite-sized infographics focused on MI micro-skills and key principles. During the initial phase, participants will receive digital nudges twice weekly, followed by weekly reinforcement reminders for the remainder of the intervention period. Participants in the control group will continue with usual practice during the study period and will receive access to the educational materials after study completion.
Patient-level outcomes will be assessed using de-identified routine clinical data from eligible patients with hypertension managed by participating healthcare professionals. These data will be extracted by a Trusted Third Party (TTP) and analyzed at the study-arm level. Healthcare professional outcomes will include implementation outcomes and confidence in the application of MI.
The study aims to determine whether structured reinforcement improves the implementation of MI micro-skills in routine primary care practice and whether this is associated with improvements in systolic blood pressure outcomes among patients with hypertension.
6,114 studies on the registry are indexed under Hypertension; 912 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 57 is below the median of 100 across 4,575 interventional studies indexed under Hypertension.
Browse Hypertension studies →National University Polyclinics, Singapore is the lead sponsor of 2 studies on the registry; none are open to participants now.
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Exclusion Criteria:
Participants will receive a structured reinforcement programme on Motivational Interviewing (MI) micro-skills delivered through digital nudges and infographics via a Microsoft Teams channel over a 17-week period, in addition to usual practice.
Behavioral: Digital Nudges for Motivational Interviewing (MI) Micro-Skills Reinforcement
Participants will continue with usual practice during the study period and will not receive the MI micro-skills reinforcement programme. Following study completion, participants will be provided access to the educational materials.
A 17-week structured reinforcement programme delivered via digital nudges on Microsoft Teams comprising bite-sized infographic-based learning materials, and periodic reinforcement reminders designed to support the application of Motivational Interviewing (MI) micro-skills in routine primary care practice.
Change From Baseline in Systolic Blood Pressure
Change in systolic blood pressure (mmHg) from the index consultation (baseline) to the most recent routine-care blood pressure reading taken at least four weeks after the index consultation and within twelve weeks of the index consultation among eligible hypertensive patients managed by participating healthcare professionals.
Time frame: Baseline and up to 12 weeks after the index consultation
Acceptability of Intervention Measure (AIM)
Perceived acceptability of the structured reinforcement programme on Motivational Interviewing (MI) micro-skills, measured using the four-item Acceptability of Intervention Measure (AIM). Anticipated acceptability will be assessed at baseline prior to intervention commencement, and experienced acceptability will be assessed after completion of the 17-week intervention. Higher scores indicate greater perceived acceptability.
Time frame: Baseline and Week 17 (end of intervention)
Intervention Appropriateness Measure (IAM)
Perceived appropriateness of the structured reinforcement programme on Motivational Interviewing (MI) micro-skills, measured using the four-item Intervention Appropriateness Measure (IAM). Anticipated appropriateness will be assessed at baseline prior to intervention commencement, and experienced appropriateness will be assessed after completion of the 17-week intervention. Higher scores indicate greater perceived appropriateness.
Time frame: Baseline and Week 17 (end of intervention)
Feasibility of Intervention Measure (FIM)
Perceived feasibility of the structured reinforcement programme on Motivational Interviewing (MI) micro-skills, measured using the four-item Feasibility of Intervention Measure (FIM). Anticipated feasibility will be assessed at baseline prior to intervention commencement, and experienced feasibility will be assessed after completion of the 17-week intervention. Higher scores indicate greater perceived feasibility.
Time frame: Baseline and Week 17 (end of intervention)
Confidence in Applying Motivational Interviewing (MI)
Self-reported confidence in applying Motivational Interviewing (MI) in routine clinical practice, measured using a study questionnaire administered before and after the intervention.
Time frame: Baseline and Week 17 (end of intervention)
Plan to share: No — No individual participant data (IPD) will be shared with other researchers. Only aggregated and anonymised study results will be disseminated through publications, presentations, and academic reports.
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
Started Jul 2026 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Dec 2026, 5 months after the start.
Of 1,403 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Hypertension, half reached primary completion within 23 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 10 and three quarters within 41. This study's planned 5 months is below that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 1,498 studies reached it within 23 months; a quarter within 10 and three quarters within 41.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
This study is active, not recruiting, as verified in Nov 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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National University Polyclinics, Singapore