The Impact of a mHealth Application on Outpatient Physical Therapy HEP Adherence and Outcomes: A RCT

August 23, 2020 updated by: Robert Elson PT, Aultman Health Foundation

The Impact of a mHealth Application on Outpatient Physical Therapy HEP Adherence and Outcomes: A Randomized Clinical Trial

The purpose of this study is to determine the impact a mobile health application has on adherence to a physical therapy home exercise program and its effect on functional outcomes.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Outpatient physical therapy is an integral aspect in combating the impairment and dysfunction associated with musculoskeletal injuries. Healthcare and insurance restrictions are leading to reduced clinic visits, encouraging efficient and effective treatments and focusing a greater demand on education, proactive wellness and home exercise maintenance. Home exercise prescription has long been a fundamental aspect to a physical therapy routine or regimen. It is well established that exercise protocols can positively impact pain, fitness levels, physical function and measures of life quality (Forkan, Pumper, Smyth, Wirkkala, A Ciol, & Shumway-Cook, 2006). It is also recognized that treatment outcomes may be negatively impacted by non-adherence to the prescribed exercise recommendation in rehabilitation (Holden, Haywood, Portia, Gee, & Mclean, 2014). Research historically suggests that levels of non-adherence to exercise prescription range from 50-70% (Bassett, 2003; Sluijs, Kok, & van der Zee, 1993), and likely increase as time passes. Investigating non-adherence demonstrates a myriad of influencing factors. These factors can be characterized as motivators and barriers. With the explosion of mobile communications access and increasing number of active device users, healthcare is embarking on the concept of mobile health management. Mobile health interventions have been found to have a positive impact in the arenas of medication compliance, weight loss, chronic disease management and postoperative complication (Lee, 2016; Ronghua, Li, (2015).The implementation of a mobile health application in physical therapy outpatient management has not been well established. It is time to investigate the impact of using a mobile health application on a prescribed physical therapy treatment regimen for the enhancement of HEP adherence and functional outcome assessment.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

104

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • Ohio
      • Canton, Ohio, United States, 44710
        • Aultman Hospital - West Physical Therapy

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 100 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Any musculoskeletal pathology: spine, UE, LE
  2. Age18 or older
  3. Primary language is English. Ability to read, write and understand the English language
  4. Ownership of mobile smart phone
  5. Functional and cognitive ability to operate/manipulate a mobile media application
  6. Willingness to use their data package for support/use of mobile application

Exclusion Criteria:

Following the initial screening criteria, the study population will be scrutinized for exclusion.

Exclusion criteria:

  1. History of neurological pathology with neurological impairments
  2. Impaired cognition
  3. Difficulty with operation and manipulation of mobile application
  4. Difficulty with directions as set forth by the intake The exclusion criteria will be screened by written intake and a traditional medical history by the primary researcher. Subject enrollment will commence after eligibility is met and informed consent received.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Traditional Group
The control group will receive traditional PT services as deemed clinically appropriate via examination to include traditional home exercise prescription.
The Traditional Group will receive traditional PT services deemed clinically appropriate via examination plus traditional home exercise prescription.
Experimental: Augmented Media Group
The Augmented Media group will receive traditional PT services as deemed clinically appropriate via examination and include home exercise prescription via a mobile health application.
The intervention group will receive traditional PT services deemed clinically appropriate via examination plus home exercise prescription augmented via a mobile health application. The augmented media group will receive digital exercise prescription via a mobile health application source (Physitrack) that includes: high definition video and pictures, education material and written instruction, reminder notification and in-app logging of completion.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Adherence Exercise Logs: Adherence = exercise reps completed (x) sets completed (x) times per day completed (x) days per week completed divided by total number of (reps) (sets) (time per day) (days per week) assigned to the HEP regimen for each patient
Time Frame: Weekly during course of patient standard treatment. Logs will be assessed over each 7 day period after initial treatment session and collected up to a period of 24 weeks or discharge from therapy intervention for any reason, which ever may occur first.
Weekly during course of patient standard treatment. Logs will be assessed over each 7 day period after initial treatment session and collected up to a period of 24 weeks or discharge from therapy intervention for any reason, which ever may occur first.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Self -report Adherence Question: Both groups will complete a single question assessment regarding their perceived level of adherence to the prescribed home exercise plan.
Time Frame: Completed at 1 week after inital exam , at discharge from PT as defined by a period up to 24 weeks or discontinuation of therapy intervention for any reason, which ever may occur first, and 3 month follow-up. 6month follow-up if subject agreeable.
Completed at 1 week after inital exam , at discharge from PT as defined by a period up to 24 weeks or discontinuation of therapy intervention for any reason, which ever may occur first, and 3 month follow-up. 6month follow-up if subject agreeable.
Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS) 0-10 scale.
Time Frame: Outcome will be completed at initial exam, at discharge from PT as defined by a period up to 24 weeks or discontinuation of therapy intervention for any reason, which ever may occur first.
Outcome will be completed at initial exam, at discharge from PT as defined by a period up to 24 weeks or discontinuation of therapy intervention for any reason, which ever may occur first.
Patient-Specific Functional Scale (PSFS)
Time Frame: Outcome will be completed at initial exam, at discharge from PT as defined by a period up to 24 weeks or discontinuation of therapy intervention for any reason, which ever may occur first.
Outcome will be completed at initial exam, at discharge from PT as defined by a period up to 24 weeks or discontinuation of therapy intervention for any reason, which ever may occur first.
The Global Rating of Change Scale (GROC)
Time Frame: At patient discharge from PT as defined by a period up to 24 weeks or discontinuation of therapy intervention for any reason, which ever may occur first, and at 3 month follow-up. 6month follow-up if subject agreeable.
At patient discharge from PT as defined by a period up to 24 weeks or discontinuation of therapy intervention for any reason, which ever may occur first, and at 3 month follow-up. 6month follow-up if subject agreeable.

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Robert A Elson, MPT, Aultman Health Foundation

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

January 23, 2017

Primary Completion (Actual)

July 23, 2018

Study Completion (Actual)

December 12, 2019

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 18, 2017

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 26, 2017

First Posted (Estimate)

January 30, 2017

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

August 25, 2020

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 23, 2020

Last Verified

August 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2016.11RE

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

No

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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