Patient Priorities Aligned Discrete Decision Making for Older Adults With Multiple Chronic Conditions.

October 21, 2026 updated by: Aanand Dinkar Naik, The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston

The purpose of the study is to to evaluate an artificial intelligence (AI) powered large language model (LLM) chatbot -PrioritiesAI -that assists patients in understanding, clarifying, and communicating their health priorities and desired outcomes related to elective hernia surgery.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

80

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 Contact

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

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

60 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Capacity to provide informed consent
  • Ability to communicate effectively by phone in English
  • Access to a working email address that the participant checks regularly
  • Scheduled for an upcoming outpatient consultation with one of our partner surgeons to discuss elective hernia surgery (femoral, ventral, inguinal, or umbilical)
  • No significant cognitive impairment that would interfere with meaningful participation

To ensure focus on surgical decisions, participants must fall into one of these categories:

  1. Patients scheduled for an upcoming outpatient consultation with one of our partner surgeons specifically to discuss a potential surgical procedure
  2. Patients who have undergone a surgical procedure performed one of our partner surgeons after January 1, 2025
  3. Participants must meet criteria #1 or #2 above and must not have participated in Phase 1 of the study

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Cognitive impairment sufficient to interfere with meaningful participation in Patient Priorities Care (PPC) discussions
  • Communication challenges that cannot be reasonably accommodated within the study protocol
  • Inability to complete patient-reported outcome measures independently or with minimal assistance
  • Lack of decision-making capacity regarding surgical care

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

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Control arm
Experimental: AI Chatbot
Behavioral: AI Chatbot

Participants receive a personalized web link by email .The link provides access to the Priorities AI chatbot on any internet-connected device. The chatbot guides participants through a structured conversation to identify their health priorities and goals related to their surgical decision,

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Decision regret as assessed by the Decision regret scale
Time Frame: 4 months after surgery

This is a 5 item questionnaire and each is scored from 0(no regret)-5 (high regret). Average of the item scores are calculated then 1 is subtracted and the final score is multiplied by 25 for a final metric from 0 to 100. Higher scores indicating worse outcome
4 months after surgery
Self-identified health goals following elective hernia surgery, as measured by the Goal Attainment Scale (GAS)
Time Frame: 4 months after surgery

This is rated on a 5-point scale from -2 (much less than expected) to +2 (much better than expected), with 0 representing the expected level of goal attainment. Higher scores indicate greater attainment of individualized goals.
4 months after surgery

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Decision-making quality in surgical consultations using the Shared Decision-Making Process (SDMP)Scale
Time Frame: 24 hours-72 hours after the intervention

The Shared Decision-Making Process (SDMP) Scale is a 4-item, patient-reported measure. Maximum scores range from 0 to 4, with higher scores indicating greater shared decision-making.
24 hours-72 hours after the intervention
Perceived involvement in care using the Perceived Involvement in Care Scale (PICS, binary format)
Time Frame: 24 hours-72 hours after the intervention

This is a 13 item questionnaire and each is scored as 1(agree) or 0(disagree) for a total score 0-13, with higher scores indicating greater perceived involvement in care.
24 hours-72 hours after the intervention
Decisional confidence using the SURE scale
Time Frame: 24 hours-72 hours after the intervention

This is a 4 item questionnaire and each is scored as a 1(yes) or 0(no) for a maximum score of 0-4,higher score indicating greater decisional confidence
24 hours-72 hours after the intervention
Acceptability as assessed by the Acceptability of Intervention Measure (AIM)
Time Frame: 24 hours-72 hours after the intervention

This is a 4 item questionnaire and each is scored on a 5-point Likert scale from 1( completely disagree) to 5 (completely agree) for a maximum score of 4-20, higher scores indicate greater perceived acceptability
24 hours-72 hours after the intervention
Appropriateness as assessed by the Intervention Appropriateness Measure (IAM)
Time Frame: 24 hours-72 hours after the intervention

This is a 4 item questionnaire and each is scored on a 5-point Likert scale from 1( completely disagree) to 5 (completely agree) for a maximum score of 4-20, higher scores indicate greater perceived appropriateness
24 hours-72 hours after the intervention
Feasibility as assessed by the Feasibility of Intervention Measure (FIM)
Time Frame: 24 hours-72 hours after the intervention

This is a 4 item questionnaire and each is scored on a 5-point Likert scale from 1( completely disagree) to 5 (completely agree) for a maximum score of 4-20, higher scores indicate greater perceived feasibility
24 hours-72 hours after the intervention
Assigned preparation approach on health-related quality of life using the Short Form (SF-12) Quality of Life Scale
Time Frame: 4 months after surgery

The SF-12 assesses physical and mental health across eight health concepts and generates two summary scores: the Physical Component Summary (PCS-12) and Mental Component Summary (MCS-12). Both scores are calculated using responses to all 12 items and are typically reported on a 0-100 scale, with higher scores indicating better health-related quality of life.
4 months after surgery
Comfort and function following surgery using the Carolina's Comfort Scale (CCS)
Time Frame: 4 months after surgery

This is a 23 item questionnaire and each is scored from 0(no symptoms) to 5( disabling symptoms) for a score range of 0-115, higher score indicating worse postoperative comfort
4 months after surgery
Satisfaction as assessed by the Satisfaction Measure
Time Frame: 24 hours-72 hours after the intervention

This is a 1 item questionnaire and scored from 0(worst visit possible)-10 ( best visit possible) , higher value means better outcome
24 hours-72 hours after the intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Aanand D Naik, MD, The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston

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 30, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

October 30, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

October 30, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 22, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 22, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

September 30, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

October 26, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 21, 2026

Last Verified

September 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • HSC-SPH-22-0586

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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