Veterans Service Organizations and My HealtheVet (MHV)

April 6, 2015 updated by: US Department of Veterans Affairs

Working With Veterans Organizations to Encourage Use of My HealtheVet

This project will design, deliver, and evaluate a peer support intervention that will help veterans become familiar with and register for Veterans Health Administration (VHA) My HealtheVet (MHV). It will lay the groundwork for 2 types of future projects. First, the investigators will develop materials that can be used in other settings to increase registration, authentication, and meaningful use of MHV. Second, it will allow us to develop and study interventions that use informed, peer-supported Internet use to improve health behaviors and outcomes among veterans.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

BACKGROUND/RATIONALE: Despite the promise of electronic health resources, there is evidence that they have not led to the improved self management that many envisioned. There is evidence for this from a variety of sources, including the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Although there is appropriate attention to improving the functionality and ease of use of the system, a key barrier is patient acceptance and familiarity. Peer support, particularly in group settings, can improve health-related behaviors. Such approaches may increase and improve MHV use.

OBJECTIVES: Our goal in the present project is to develop and test a peer-based mechanism to increase MHV use by member of veterans service organizations (VSO) such as the American Legion. The investigators will address 3 specific aims:

  1. To demonstrate that trained members of VSO can provide basic MHV education and support within their VSO unit using mobile computers.
  2. To demonstrate that this intervention increases MHV registration, in person authentication (IPA), and reported use of MHV among veteran post members.
  3. To create clear, concise, and portable resources that will make it possible to replicate this process in other VSO units or other community settings.

METHODS: This implementation study is a quasi-randomized intervention with delayed controls. Working with the leadership of selected veterans groups, the investigators will identify 12 posts that have the appropriate resources and interests to serve as pilot posts for the present project. The investigators will train 2 peer mentors (super-users or SU) from 4 of these posts using adaptations of the peer training approach the investigators used for a previous project. The investigators will work with the SU to install computers with wireless broadband Internet access at their posts. The investigators will load the computers with software that documents unique sessions, sites visited, and amount of time at each site. The investigators will help the SU provide lessons regarding MHV use to his/her fellow post members at 4 monthly post meetings. After 4 months, the investigators will move the computers to the next 4 posts and repeat the intervention. Finally, the investigators will move the computers to the last 4 posts, providing remote support and our training materials to the SU at those posts. The investigators will use computer tracking data, surveys, focus groups, and interviews to assess the impact of the program. The investigators will test changes in registration, IPA, and use with before and after surveys. Our analysis will adjust for clustering within posts. The investigators will transcribe our focus groups and interviews verbatim and analyze them using a case study approach.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

282

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

  • United States
    • Wisconsin
      • Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, 53295-1000
        • Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center, Milwaukee, WI

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 and older (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Two steps, first a post is enrolled, then a member participates.

Post eligible if:

  • The post leadership agrees that the post will support participation.
  • Two or more members of the post agree to serve as MHV super-users.
  • There is an identifiable location within the post for the computer.

Member eligible if:

  • Member of post
  • Attends the meeting at which the survey is administered

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Does not consent to survey
  • Does not attend meeting where survey administered

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

  • Allocation: RANDOMIZED
  • Interventional Model: PARALLEL
  • Masking: NONE

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: First educational intervention group
Group that receives intervention first. The intervention is a series of training sessions, in person and on line, to educate post superusers who will in turn educate post members on the utility and mechanics of use of MHV.
Other: Education
Series of training sessions, in person and on line, to educate post superusers who will in turn educate post members on the utility and mechanics of use of MHV.
Other Names:
  • Post education
EXPERIMENTAL: Second intervention group
This arm receives a series of training sessions over study months 6-9. The training sessions are in person and on line and are directed at post superusers who will in turn educate post members on the utility and mechanics of use of MHV. They complete survey rounds 1 and 2 before the training and survey round 3 after the training.
Other: Education
Series of training sessions, in person and on line, to educate post superusers who will in turn educate post members on the utility and mechanics of use of MHV.
Other Names:
  • Post education
NO_INTERVENTION: Education after data collection complete
This group received a similar intervention, but after all quantitative data collection complete.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Registration for MHV
Time Frame: Baseline; After Group 1 Intervention; After Group 2 Intervention
Measured by response to question: Have you ever used My HealtheVet online?
Baseline; After Group 1 Intervention; After Group 2 Intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

US Department of Veterans Affairs

Collaborators

The American Legion Department of Wisconsin

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Helpful Links

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

June 1, 2012

Primary Completion (ACTUAL)

June 1, 2013

Study Completion (ACTUAL)

January 1, 2014

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 10, 2012

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 11, 2012

First Posted (ESTIMATE)

May 14, 2012

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ESTIMATE)

April 28, 2015

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 6, 2015

Last Verified

February 1, 2014

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • RRP 11-408

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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