Use of Social Media to Improve Medication Adherence in Adolescents and Young Adults With Systemic Lupus
- Conditions
- Systemic Lupus
- Interventions
- Behavioral: Social Media
- Registration Number
- NCT03218033
- Lead Sponsor
- Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
- Brief Summary
The goal of this study was to examine the effect of an online educational program with and without a social media experience.The primary goal of this study was to determine whether medication adherence would be improved by having adolescents and young adults with systemic lupus erythematosus participate in an online educational website, with or without a social media experience. The secondary goal was to determine whether secondary outcomes such as quality of life, stress, and self-efficacy improved in this model, and whether these changes were associated with improvements in medication management.
- Detailed Description
Self-management skills, including medication management, are vital to the health of adolescents and young adults with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Non-adherence with medications in patients with systemic lupus has been noted to be as poor as 40%. Success in disease control can be significantly impacted by such non-adherence. Poor medication compliance is associated with higher SLE disease activity scores and higher SLE disease activity in turn has been demonstrated to be significantly associated with a decline in quality of life. Much attention has been paid to how to improve self-management skills in adults, but less is known about how to target adolescents, an age group with a complex set of emotional and developmental needs.
The goal of this study was to examine the effect of an online educational program with and without a social media experience.The primary goal of this study was to determine whether medication adherence would be improved by having adolescents and young adults with SLE participate in an online educational website, with or without a social media experience. The secondary goal was to determine whether secondary outcomes such as quality of life, stress, and self-efficacy improved in this model, and whether these changes were associated with improvements in medication management.
Recruitment & Eligibility
- Status
- COMPLETED
- Sex
- All
- Target Recruitment
- 37
- age between 13 and 23 at the time of recruitment
- having the diagnosis of SLE made or confirmed by a pediatric or adult rheumatologist at Penn State Children's Hospital/Hershey Medical Center
- having regular internet access.
- age <13 or >23 years
- comorbid medical or psychiatric illness that would affect the outcome measures.
Study & Design
- Study Type
- INTERVENTIONAL
- Study Design
- PARALLEL
- Arm && Interventions
Group Intervention Description Social Media (SM) Social Media The intervention phase was 8 weeks in duration. Participants visited the Facinglupustogether.com website and participated in consecutive weekly modules. 8 The SM group answered the questions at the end of each module on a blogging site with other SM participants. SM participants were encouraged to provide feedback or questions about the material or personal questions that arose in response to each module. All subjects completed surveys in REDCap prior to the study intervention and again 6 weeks after study completion to assess secondary outcome measures. Medication adherence was assessed by calculating a medication possession ratio by acquiring information on fill dates at the subjects' pharmacies.
- Primary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Medication Adherence 6 months A medication possession ratio was calculated based on fill date information from the subjects' pharmacies
- Secondary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Stress utilizing the Perceived Severity of Stress Questionnaire 14 weeks Stress was measured by the Perceived Severity of Stress Questionnaire (PSQ)
Self-efficacy utilizing the Children's Arthritis Self-Efficacy scale 14 weeks Self-efficacy was measured using the Children's Arthritis Self-Efficacy scale (CASE) which was modified slightly for systemic lupus
Quality of Life utilizing the Simple Measure of the Impact of Lupus Erythematosus in Youngsters (SMILEY) index 14 weeks Quality of life was assessed using the validated Simple Measure of the Impact of Lupus Erythematosus in Youngsters (SMILEY) index
Sense of agency 14 weeks Sense of agency (SOA) was measured via three Likert scale questions aimed to tap three core concepts of agency: competence ("Blogging... makes me feel I have control over my own voice"), assertiveness ("...enables me to assert myself"), and confidence ("...makes me feel I have a distinct voice")
Sense of community 14 weeks Sense of community (SOC) was measured using a 22-item scale (8, 9, 20). SOC consists of feelings of belonging to the community, having influence on, and being influenced by, the community, being supported by the community while also supporting them; and feelings of shared emotional connection.
Empowerment 14 weeks Empowerment was assessed using a validated quantitative Likert scale tool that measured 1) "empowering processes" (Appendix A), and 2) "empowering outcomes"