Telephone Reminder to Increase Appointment Rates

November 24, 2023 updated by: Sorlandet Hospital HF

Reducing the Rate of Missed Appointments in an Outpatient Substance Use Treatment Clinic in Norway

Missed appointments to outpatient substance use treatment are common and costly and can have a negative effect on the health of patients.

In this quasi-experimental study, the investigators used an on-off design to examine whether a reminder "plus" intervention (telephone call from therapist before first appointment) would increase attendance and improve cancellation and rebooking practices. Secondary outcomes included satisfaction with treatment and intention to complete the treatment program.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

147

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

  • Norway
    • Agder
      • Arendal, Agder, Norway
        • Addiction Unit - Sørlandet Hospital
      • Kristiansand, Agder, Norway, 4600
        • Addiction Unit - Sørlandet Hospital

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

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Newly referred patient
  • > 18 years
  • Diagnosis: Substance related disorder

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients who are unable to understand or score the survey due to cognitive or language barriers

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: Health Services Research
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Sequential Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: OFF intervention
No reminder plus (telephone reminder from therapist) but standard test message reminder (SMS) from second admission
Experimental: ON intervention
Reminder plus (telephone reminder from therapist) AND standard test message reminder (SMS) from second admission
Other: Reminder plus (telephone call from therapist)
Reminder plus (telephone call from therapist)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Attendance rate
Time Frame: Up to 10 treatment sessions, estimated average timeframe = 3 months
Attendance rate at first admission and during 10 outpatient sessions
Up to 10 treatment sessions, estimated average timeframe = 3 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Dropout rate
Time Frame: Up to 10 treatment sessions, estimated average timeframe = 3 months
Dropout rate within 10 sessions - measured as formal discharge and/or "technical discharge" (3x no-shows)
Up to 10 treatment sessions, estimated average timeframe = 3 months
Cancellation / rebooking rate
Time Frame: Up to 10 treatment sessions, estimated average timeframe = 3 months
Examine difference in cancellation / rebooking rate between the two conditions. Data was collected from administrative patient records.
Up to 10 treatment sessions, estimated average timeframe = 3 months

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Treatment satisfaction
Time Frame: First week
Treatment satisfaction - measured with the Session Rating Scale (scale 0 - 40, higher scores means higher satisfaction)
First week
Intention to complete treatment
Time Frame: First week
Intention to complete treatment program. Self-developed measured based on the Theory of Planned Behavior. Scale 1 - 7, higher scores means higher intention to Complete treatment).
First week

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Sorlandet Hospital HF

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: John-Kåre Vederhus, PhD, Sørlandet hospital

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.

General Publications

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)

April 1, 2015

Primary Completion (Actual)

December 31, 2016

Study Completion (Actual)

December 31, 2016

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 7, 2021

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 12, 2021

First Posted (Actual)

January 13, 2021

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

November 27, 2023

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 24, 2023

Last Verified

January 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 005004 - 2014/2225

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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