Mobile Application to Improve Nutritional Counseling Provided by Primary Care Physicians for Hypertension.

Nutritional Recommendations for Hypertension: Development of Mobile Application for Improve Knowledge in Lifestyle Modification for Primary Care Physicians

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the use of a mobile app could improve knowledge and practice in nutrition counseling performed by primary care physicians in Brazil.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Hypertension
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: telehealth; Other: nutritional counseling; Device: smartphone (mobile app)

Detailed Description

To optimize the nutritional care in the context of the limitations of available time and knowledge in medical practice, the present study proposes to develop a tool of nutritional guidelines for hypertension, easily accessible, based on evidence, and then evaluate its use among primary care physicians registered in a center telehealth. The use of the mobile application tool will aim to improve the nutritional counseling, helping with prevention of other chronic diseases in primary care context.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 110
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Brazil
  • Rio Grande do Sul
    • Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, 90430-090
      • Núcleo de Telessaúde Técnico-Científico do Rio Grande do Sul. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• primary care physicians registered in TelessaúdeRS (Center for Telehealth)
• primary care physicians who use smartphone or tablet

Exclusion Criteria:

• not to work in primary care

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Smartphone (mobile app) & telehealth; Participants will install and use a mobile application designed to provide nutritional recommendations for hypertensive patients. These recommendations will be based on the DASH diet guidelines appropriate to patient profile: consumption of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, milk or low fat dairy products, lean meats, poultry and fish, nuts, seeds and legumes, amount of fats, oils and sweets, as well as guidelines for salt intake and alcohol. The call service will be offered by the Center for Telehealth Rio Grande do Sul to answer clinic questions with qualified staff and in real time. All physicians who work in Primary Health Care in Brazil can use this call center when they have questions about diagnosis and management of their patients.	Other: telehealth; Use the call service offered by the Center for Telehealth Rio Grande do Sul to answer clinic questions with qualified staff and in real time. All physicians who work in Primary Health Care in Brazil can call when they have questions about diagnosis and management of their patients.; Other: nutritional counseling; Performing routine nutritional counseling in their clinical practice; Device: smartphone (mobile app); Mobile app, designed to provide nutritional recommendations for hypertensive patients, will be use. The recommendations will be based on the DASH diet guidelines appropriate to the patient profile: consumption of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, milk or low fat dairy products, lean meats, poultry and fish, nuts, seeds and legumes, amount of fats, oils and sweets, as well as guidelines for salt intake and alcohol.
Placebo Comparator: nutritional counseling & telehealth; Physicians who are enrolled for this group will continue performing routine nutritional counseling in their clinical practice. The call service will be offered by the Center for Telehealth Rio Grande do Sul to answer clinic questions with qualified staff and in real time. All physicians who work in Primary Health Care in Brazil can use this call service when they have questions about diagnosis and management of their patients.	Other: telehealth; Use the call service offered by the Center for Telehealth Rio Grande do Sul to answer clinic questions with qualified staff and in real time. All physicians who work in Primary Health Care in Brazil can call when they have questions about diagnosis and management of their patients.; Other: nutritional counseling; Performing routine nutritional counseling in their clinical practice

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in score of knowledge and ability related to nutritional care.	For each correct answer, participant will get one point on the knowledge test and for each incorrect answer will get 0. Thus, possible scores will range from 69 to 0. Data based on questions about the abilities will be summarized in a qualitative ranking.	30 days

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre
• Collaborators: Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Erno Harzheim, doctor, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: October 1, 2014
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 1, 2014
• Study Completion (Actual): January 1, 2015

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 23, 2014
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 24, 2014
• First Posted (Estimate): September 25, 2014

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): March 19, 2015
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 18, 2015
• Last Verified: March 1, 2015

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Nutritional Knowledge; Nutritional Counseling
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Cardiovascular Diseases; Vascular Diseases; Hypertension
• Other Study ID Numbers: 14-0258