Evaluation of a Digital Pre-therapy Patient Education Program (StartHjelp) in Outpatient Mental Health Care
- Conditions
- Patient EducationMental DisorderMental Health Issue
- Interventions
- Behavioral: Digital pre-therapy patient education program (StartHjelp)Behavioral: Comparator intervention
- Registration Number
- NCT06212687
- Lead Sponsor
- St. Olavs Hospital
- Brief Summary
Community mental health centers (CMHCs) face significant challenges in meeting the needs of individuals with mental health issues. For example, due to high demand, there are long waiting lists and low engagement rates. Innovative interventions are urgently needed to address these challenges to improve patient engagement, coping skills, and overall health outcomes. Educational and self-management interventions have shown promise in enhancing patient activation and treatment satisfaction in other contexts. They may therefore be potential solutions to reduce the identified challenges in the mental health service. To bridge these knowledge and practice gaps, this study aims to evaluate a digital pre-therapy patient education program tailored specifically for adults with mental disorders. This intervention aims to enhance treatment satisfaction, patient activation, knowledge, patient engagement, and overall mental health outcomes.
- Detailed Description
Community mental health centers (CMHCs) play a pivotal role in the provision of comprehensive care and support for individuals with mental health challenges. However, these centers often face formidable obstacles, including surging patient demands, lengthy waiting lists, high dropout rates, and barriers to engagement, stigma, and negative attitudes. Given these challenges, there exists an urgent imperative to develop innovative interventions that can enhance treatment satisfaction, patient activation, knowledge, and patient engagement, and ultimately yield improved mental health outcomes. One promising approach for addressing these challenges lies in the realm of patient engagement and enablement strategies, particularly through the implementation of digital educational interventions.
The investigators hypothesize that utilizing innovative technology to deliver an early digital self-management educational program improves treatment satisfaction, patient activation, knowledge, patient engagement, and overall mental health outcomes without substantially increasing service costs. The impact of utilizing innovative technology to deliver an early digital pre-therapy patient education program through the HelsaMi web patient portal is promising. By leveraging technology, it is possible to reach a wider audience and provide accessible and convenient information, with the same standard to all patients. This approach has the potential to improve patient outcomes, increase treatment adherence, and reduce the burden on healthcare resources. By demonstrating the benefits of digital interventions, our research will pave the way for more efficient and cost-effective mental healthcare services, benefiting both patients and healthcare systems.
Recruitment & Eligibility
- Status
- NOT_YET_RECRUITING
- Sex
- All
- Target Recruitment
- 170
- Put on the waiting list for mental health outpatient treatment in the active study period.
- Willing to participate in the study
- Over 18 years
- Understand written and spoken Norwegian
- In need of acute help
Study & Design
- Study Type
- INTERVENTIONAL
- Study Design
- PARALLEL
- Arm && Interventions
Group Intervention Description Digital pre-therapy informational intervention (StartHjelp). Digital pre-therapy patient education program (StartHjelp) Patients gets access to StartHjelp, an app which gradually present treatment relevant information while the patient is on waiting list for mental health outpatient services. Control group Comparator intervention The control group gets sent all the same information as the intervention group in written form, by mail.
- Primary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Knowledge and treatment preferences measured on T1 (after randomization, before intervention; up to 2 weeks), T2 (after intervention; up to 8 weeks) Knowledge will be measured by five questions. All questions are introduced by "how much knowledge do you have about" (how outpatient clinics work; what happens in therapy; self management and user participation; patient rights; treatment options available to you). These questions are answered on a six-point ordinal scale ranging from "Nothing" to "Very much". After these 5 questions a follow up question "do you know what type of treatment you want?", answered either "yes", "no", or "don't know", is asked. If the answer is "yes" the patient is prompted to write what it is that they want.
Patient satisfaction measured on T2 (after intervention; up to 8 weeks), T3 (12 months follow up; up to 60 weeks) Patient satisfaction with the client satisfaction questionnaire (CSQ). The CSQ prompts the patient to evaluate different aspects of the care received with an 4 point ordinal scale (very dissatisfied, somewhat dissatisfied, somewhat satisfied, very satisfied).
Patient activation measured on T0 (baseline; at 0 weeks), T1 (after randomization, before intervention; up to 2 weeks), T2 (after intervention; up to 8 weeks), T3 (12 months follow up; up to 60 weeks) Patient activation measure 13 will be used. This questionaire measures patient activation by asking about knowledge, skills, and ability to manage one's own health, and health care usage. It consists of 13 items which is answered on an 4 point ordinal scale (Strongly disagree, somewhat disagree, somewhat agree, and strongly agree. Respondents have the option to answer "not applicable to me" as well.
- Secondary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Intentions for patient involvement measured on T0 (baseline; at 0 weeks), T1 (after randomization, before intervention; up to 2 weeks), T2 (after intervention; up to 8 weeks), T3 (12 months follow up; up to 60 weeks) Intentions for patient involvement were measured by asking the question "How much do you want to participate in decisions related to your treatment measured on a six point ordinal scale ranging from "nothing" to "very much".
Expectations measured on T0 (baseline; at 0 weeks), T1 (after randomization, before intervention; up to 2 weeks) To investigate patients' expectations about the interventions an open question "What are your expectations for this intervention".
Patient enablement measured on T0 (baseline; at 0 weeks), T1 (after randomization, before intervention; up to 2 weeks), T2 (after intervention; up to 8 weeks), T3 (12 months follow up; up to 60 weeks) To measure patient enablement the PEN-13 will be used. The PEN-13 is a 13 item questionnaire which measure patient enablement across two domains (patient practitioner interaction and self management). The answers are given on a five-point Likert scale (strongly disagree, disagree, neither/nor, agree, and strongly agree).
Level of functioning measured on T0 (baseline; at 0 weeks), T1 (after randomization, before intervention; up to 2 weeks), T2 (after intervention; up to 8 weeks), T3 (12 months follow up; up to 60 weeks) Work and social adjustment, or level of functioning, is measured by the Work and Social Adjustment Scale (WSAS). The WSAS have five items that measure functioning across different domains: Work, home management, social leisure activities, private leisure activities, and close relationships. Each question is answered on a 0 to 8 scale, where 0 means "not at all" impaired, and 8 means "very severely" impaired.
Mental health measured on T0 (baseline; at 0 weeks), T1 (after randomization, before intervention; up to 2 weeks), T2 (after intervention; up to 8 weeks), T3 (12 months follow up; up to 60 weeks) Mental health will be measured the Patient Health questionnaire 4. A four-item questionnaire with two items measuring the severity of anxiety symptoms and two items measuring the severity of depression symptoms.
Perceived stress measured on T0 (baseline; at 0 weeks), T1 (after randomization, before intervention; up to 2 weeks), T2 (after intervention; up to 8 weeks), T3 (12 months follow up; up to 60 weeks) Perceived stress will be measured by Perceived stress Scale-4, which comprise of four items scored on a five-point ordinal scale scored 0-4. Answers range from Never to very often.
Health related Quality of life measured on T0 (baseline; at 0 weeks), T1 (after randomization, before intervention; up to 2 weeks), T2 (after intervention; up to 8 weeks), T3 (12 months follow up; up to 60 weeks) Health related quality of life will be measured with the EQ-5D-5L. This questionnaire measure health related quality of life with five items, where each items prompts the patient to evaluate their "problem level" across a specific domain (mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression). Question responses are ordinal and include "no problems", "slight problems", "moderate problems", "severe problems" and "extreme problems". Respondents are also asked to rate their health on a 0-100 scale.
Trial Locations
- Locations (1)
St.Olavs Hospital
🇳🇴Trondheim, Trøndelag, Norway