BabySparks Developmental Application Pilot Study

BabySparks© App: A Pilot Study of mHealth Adherence to a Developmental Application for Infants After Neonatal Cardiac Surgery

A single site, cross-sectional, pilot study of a mHealth application. Primary Objective This purpose of this pilot study is to evaluate mHealth adherence to a developmental application, Babysparks©, by parents of infants with complex congenital cardiac disease and single ventricle heart disease.

Secondary Objective(s) -To determine the demographic and infant characteristics that correlate with mHealth adherence.

-The rate of developmental progress of milestones while using the application will also be compared between infants with single ventricle cardiac disease and bi-ventricular cardiac disease.

Research Intervention(s)/ Investigational Agent(s) Babysparks© developmental application is the main intervention with evaluation on feasibility of the mHealth application in a pediatric cardiology population.

Study participants will be parents of infants with single ventricle and bi-ventricular complex congenital heart disease who underwent cardiac surgery in the first six weeks of life and are currently less than 18 months of age.

Study Population There are approximately 150 new patients a year who have undergone cardiac surgery, with an additional 150 who are 18 months of age or less.

Sample Size A maximum of 400 families/year Study Duration for Individual Participants Study participants will be monitored for a minimum of 6 months with the use of the BabySparks© App; to a maximum of 24 months of use of the app or when the child reaches a developmental age of 24 months, whichever occurs first.

Study Specific Abbreviations/ Definitions mHealth : mobile health CHD: Congenital heart disease

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Congenital Heart Disease; Adherence, Patient; Development, Child
• Intervention / Treatment: Device: Babysparks Application; Other: pre and post-test Redcap Survey

Detailed Description

Study design. A single site, cross-sectional, pilot study, with a pre/post-test design will be used to evaluate the mHealth adherence and the parental feedback after using this application. Additional feasibility measures of the application will be evaluated through the engagement and use of the application, use of the mHealth data back to the research team, and frequency of the parents implementing app-suggested activities, and the infants' ability to complete these developmental activities during use of the application.

Theoretical Framework. Pediatric self-management theoretical framework follows infants to adolescents on a dynamic continuum with frequent modifiable and non-modifiable factors, processes, and behaviors that may affect adherence and outcomes. The factors may come from individual non-modifiable congenital heart disease, family factors, community support, and the health care system where the infant has their care. The interplay between parental stress and adherence to developmental interventions are highlighted in this theoretical framework, and allows for an underpinning framework for this study. Previous work with parental caregiving and motivation has included a theoretical model of the attachment-parenting theory which also supports this study to encourage interactive behaviors and developmental interventions.

Research Procedures: The mHealth application will be downloaded by parents onto up to 5 devices of their choosing with a primary email address as the linking account.

The parents will be sent a REDCap survey prior to starting the use of the application to determine their current awareness and interventions being implemented with their child related to reaching developmental milestones, and a second survey will be sent to the family at the end of study period to get their feedback on the mHealth application.

Data to be collected from the Electronic medical record (Stored in REDcap form), none of these are going to be stored in an identifiable manner: Cardiac diagnosis, Prenatal diagnosis, Cardiac surgery, Major genetic diagnosis, Major non-cardiac diagnosis, Age in days of cardiac surgery, Length of neonatal hospitalization (Days), Used the app prior to discharge, Age in days when parent started using the application, Total number of days in the hospital the first year of life, Total number of ICU days in the first year of life, Primary parent age, Primary parent gender, Primary parent education level, Number of other siblings, Route of feeds at discharge, Distance from the hospital at home

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 66

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Missouri
    • Kansas City, Missouri, United States, 64108
      • Children's Mercy Kansas City

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 1 year (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Infants with single ventricle cardiac disease are also known to have more complex hospitalizations and need for gastrostomy feeding tubes as compared to infants with bi-ventricular cardiac disease. The need for gastrostomy feeding is associated with a higher risk of cognitive, language, and motor delays in toddler age children with cardiac disease with Post-acute care interventions for physical and occupational therapy like "tummy time" are recommended for infants, but there is a lack of specific guidelines or recommendations in pediatric cardiac programs related to the use of mHealth interventions performed by parents after their discharge to home.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Study participants will be infants (and their parents) who have undergone cardiac surgery at Children's Mercy Kansas City in the first six weeks of life and are currently less than 18 months of age at the time of being approached for participation in this study.

Exclusion Criteria:

• • Families without access to a personal device for download (no devices will be provided)

  • Children who are deceased prior to the family being approached for study participation
  • Neonates that are considered non-viable, or have the potential to be non-viable
  • Spanish-only speaking families

Exclude special populations:

• Wards of the state

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Observational Models: Cohort
• Time Perspectives: Cross-Sectional

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Acceptability	satisfaction assessed through the end point survey	At end of 6 months Redcap Survey
Adoption	through uptake of application onto the phone	Date of Download of the application to the parent phone assessed 1 month
initial implementation	first date used after download	First date used after download onto parent phone assessed in 1 month
Utilization	Frequency of use after download	6 months after study enrollment
Appropriateness	Parental Feedback from endpoint survey on appropriate developmental questions and interventions for their child	at end of study Redcap Survey ( 6 months after study enrollment)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Children's Mercy Hospital Kansas City
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Lori Erickson, MSN, Children's Mercy Kansas City

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Modi AC, Pai AL, Hommel KA, Hood KK, Cortina S, Hilliard ME, Guilfoyle SM, Gray WN, Drotar D. Pediatric self-management: a framework for research, practice, and policy. Pediatrics. 2012 Feb;129(2):e473-85. doi: 10.1542/peds.2011-1635. Epub 2012 Jan 4.
• McKechnie AC, Rogstad J, Martin KM, Pridham KF. An exploration of co-parenting in the context of caring for a child prenatally diagnosed and born with a complex health condition. J Adv Nurs. 2018 Feb;74(2):350-363. doi: 10.1111/jan.13415. Epub 2017 Oct 4.
• McWilliams A, Reeves K, Shade L, Burton E, Tapp H, Courtlandt C, Gunter A, Dulin MF. Patient and Family Engagement in the Design of a Mobile Health Solution for Pediatric Asthma: Development and Feasibility Study. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2018 Mar 22;6(3):e68. doi: 10.2196/mhealth.8849.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 14, 2019
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 25, 2021
• Study Completion (Actual): May 17, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 1, 2019
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 7, 2019
• First Posted (Actual): March 8, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 18, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 17, 2023
• Last Verified: May 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Cardiovascular Diseases; Congenital Abnormalities; Cardiovascular Abnormalities; Heart Diseases; Heart Defects, Congenital
• Other Study ID Numbers: Study00000385

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