Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Community Health Worker Home-visits

April 4, 2024 updated by: Vincent S. Fan, VA Puget Sound Health Care System

COPD Home-Visits: Community Health Worker Home-visit Support to Enhance Self-Management and Improve Quality of Life Among Rural Veterans With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

We examined a Community Health Worker (CHW) program for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) in Veteran Participants. The goal of this study was to assess participants' perceived acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility of the intervention, explore participants' COPD health outcomes, and gather insights from participants and CHWs to inform potential improvements.

Veteran participants enrolled in the 12-week intervention and received a series of 9 CHW home, phone, or video visits. These visits provided education and chronic disease self-management practices to improve COPD health.

Researchers examined the participant and CHW perception of the intervention through qualitative interviews and surveys.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Detailed Description

Background: One-third of Veterans live in rural areas, and rural patients are more likely to have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and rural Veterans with COPD have lower health status than urban Veterans. COPD patients often have exacerbations that can lead to emergency room visits and hospitalizations. Since COPD exacerbations and hospitalizations can be prevented by interventions such as appropriate use of inhaled COPD medications, focusing efforts to improve COPD management for these high-risk rural Veterans with COPD is essential.

Objectives: The proposed project will test the feasibility and potential effectiveness of a Community Health Worker (CHW) intervention to help reduce risk of COPD exacerbations among Veterans. The overall goal of this pilot study is to determine the feasibility and acceptability of a community health worker intervention to promote health behavior change among Veterans with COPD. To target a high risk population, we will focus on Veterans with moderate-severe exacerbations in the past year.

Methods: Participants at VA Puget Sound will be enrolled in the study. We will develop a program to serve rural Veterans, though we will also serve all Veterans meeting the criteria particularly in these initial stages at the VA Puget Sound in Seattle. Participants will be scheduled for 9 education visits over 12 weeks that will be delivered either in-person, though a Clinical Video Telehealth into the home (CVT-to-Home), or by phone. Participants will be offered to have additional phone calls in between visits to check-in on their COPD self-management goals and confirm their upcoming appointments. Participants will be followed for a total of 3 months in this pilot study. Data on proportion of eligible patients who enroll in the study, number of intervention visits completed, and completion of study questionnaires will be collected. Data analysis will examine whether any changes in outcomes such as quality of life or physical activity between baseline and follow-up are associated with the intervention. Semi-structured exit interviews will be conducted at the end of the study to assess the design of intervention components, use of technology, appropriateness, and feasibility.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

9

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

    • Washington
      • Seattle, Washington, United States, 98108
        • VA Puget Sound Health Care System

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

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

All patients recruited for this study will be Veterans with COPD.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Clinical diagnosis of COPD
  • Enrolled in VA primary care
  • English speaking
  • Access to a telephone
  • Clinically stable breathing for at least 1 month prior to enrollment
  • If available, post-bronchodilator spirometry with FEV1/FVC < 0.70 in the last 5 years
  • ≥ 1 exacerbation in the past year treated with prednisone and/or antibiotics or treated in the ED or stay in the hospital
  • Ability to connect to CVT-to-Home

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Nursing home resident or institutionalized
  • Pregnancy
  • Pulmonary rehabilitation program in the last year
  • Uncontrolled hypertension, angina, or heart failure
  • Life expectancy < 1 year or terminal illness.
  • Dementia or uncontrolled psychiatric illness
  • Other safety concerns with participating in physical activity

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

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Acceptability, Appropriateness, Feasibility
Time Frame: one month post-intervention
Patient perception through interviews
one month post-intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

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

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)

March 14, 2019

Primary Completion (Actual)

May 27, 2021

Study Completion (Actual)

April 28, 2023

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 1, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 4, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

April 5, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 5, 2024

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 4, 2024

Last Verified

April 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

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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