Using Social Media to Decrease Healthcare Utilization for Pediatric Asthma

Using Social Media to Decrease Healthcare Utilization for Pediatric Asthma: a Pilot Randomized Control Trial

The purpose of this study is to evaluate if social media enhanced education (SME) will reduce total number of treatment days defined as summation of days of subsequent hospital admission, emergency room visits, and clinic visits, reduce missed school days, reduce total costs from a health system perspective, have increased effect with increased social media engagement, have increased effect in participants with both caregiver and patient (combined) with social media accounts, compared to participants where only the patient or only the caregiver uses social media (single),have increased patient satisfaction in the asthma education received and to obtain the experience and data needed to refine SME to be able to expand this platform for other chronic medical conditions with high healthcare utilization including pediatric diabetes, epilepsy, and sickle cell disease in children with asthma.

Study Overview

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Conditions: Asthma in Children
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Social Media Enhanced Education; Other: Usual Asthma Education

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 200
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Texas
    • Houston, Texas, United States, 77030
      • The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 1 year to 15 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• hospitalized to Children's Memorial Hermann admitted for asthma exacerbation
• patient and/or primary caregiver must have internet access on cellular phones or at home and use a social media account (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and/or Snapchat)

Exclusion Criteria:

• other chronic conditions besides asthma that may necessitate frequent health care utilization. i.e. children with complex chronic conditions, sickle cell, seizures, diabetes.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Treatment	Other: Social Media Enhanced Education; Along with usual asthma education received,participants will receive asthma education via various social media platforms ,Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and/or Snapchat. Topics of education will include background on asthma and pathophysiology, asthma severity classification, asthma triggers, different medications and indications for when to take them, how to use an inhaler technique, and symptom monitoring.Online resources from the American Lung Association and the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program will also be posted.
Active Comparator: Control Group	Other: Usual Asthma Education; For patients who are admitted to Children's Memorial Hermann for asthma exacerbation, asthma education is provided to patients and families on the day of discharge by the nurse and respiratory therapist on triggers, Signs & Symptoms, Medication Use, Medication Delivery, Peak Flow, Zones and how to respond to each, and Cleaning equipment.Nursing staff are responsible for printing out education sheets to give to patients and showing an education video that is 20 minutes long. An asthma action plan are given to families on discharge. Patients that are discharged from the emergency room are given the same educational materials by the nurses and/or respiratory therapists except for the asthma video. Patients receive a variable amount of asthma education when going to usual clinic visits. The education provided is dependent on the provider, and usually limited in length to the time of the visit

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Total number of treatment days in a medical setting (hospital, emergency department (ED), clinic)	Treatment days are defined as the summation of days in the hospital, ED, or in the clinic.	1 year after enrollment

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Total number of hospitalizations		1 year after enrollment
total number of readmissions		1 year after enrollment
total number of emergency room visits		1 year after enrollment
total number of clinic visits		1 year after enrollment
patient satisfaction and understanding of asthma education	This is a 13 item questionnaire each question is rated from 1 to 5 a higher number indicating a better outcome	1 year after enrollment
number of missed days of school		1 year after enrollment
total estimated health system costs, hospital costs, and clinic costs		1 year after enrollment

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston
• Collaborators: National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Monica Kodakandla, MD, The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): October 1, 2021
• Primary Completion (Estimated): September 30, 2024
• Study Completion (Estimated): September 30, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: August 13, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 13, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): August 19, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): February 15, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 13, 2024
• Last Verified: February 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Pediatric Asthma; Healthcare Utilization; Social Media
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Respiratory Tract Diseases; Immune System Diseases; Lung Diseases; Hypersensitivity, Immediate; Bronchial Diseases; Lung Diseases, Obstructive; Respiratory Hypersensitivity; Hypersensitivity; Asthma
• Other Study ID Numbers: HSC-MS-21-0426; UL1TR003167 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

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