A Pilot and Feasibility Study of Mobile-Based Asthma Action Plans

Not Applicable

Completed

Conditions: Asthma

Interventions: Other: Mobile-based Asthma Action Plan

Registration Number: NCT01514760

Lead Sponsor: Arkansas Children's Hospital Research Institute

Brief Summary: Investigators from University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Department of Pediatrics and University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Center for Distance Health will collaborate to develop a mobile-based Asthma Action Plan application to improve asthma self-management skills specifically targeting adolescents. The investigators hypothesize that an interactive, mobile-based asthma action plan will be a feasible means of reinforcing long-term asthma management guidelines as well as delivering acute management instructions to adolescents with asthma.

Detailed Description: A written Asthma Action Plan from a healthcare provider is one of the key features of asthma self-management recommended by the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program asthma guidelines; guidelines-based asthma care has not yet fully translated to the community despite the fact that National Asthma Education and Prevention Program released the first set of national guidelines nearly 2 decades ago. Previous reports have proven that patients with an Asthma Action Plan have better outcomes including fewer acute healthcare utilization visits, fewer days missed from school, and improved symptoms scores compared to patients without an Asthma Action Plan. Recently, mobile-based phone applications and music file (MPEG layer 3)(MP3) players have been utilized in the management of chronic diseases such as asthma and diabetes to provide medication reminders and to provide alternatives to paper dairies for logging symptoms or other health-related data such as peak flow readings or blood glucose readings. We propose to design an application that will fully meet the recommended individualized Asthma Action Plan treatment plan as recommended by national guidelines and will also provide participants with medication reminders, education tips, and data logging/tracking capabilities.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status: COMPLETED

Sex: All

Target Recruitment: 22

Inclusion Criteria

Age ≥ 12 and ≤ 17 years.
Mild to severe persistent asthma or poorly controlled asthma. If a child has used a preventive medication in the past, but reports no use of the medication in the prior 3 months, we will assess severity.
Children not using a preventive medication at baseline: We will assess for mild persistent to severe persistent asthma. Any one of the following, during the prior 4 weeks (as defined by parent interview) will determine severity:
An average of >2 days per week with asthma symptoms
>2 days per week with rescue medication use
≥2 nights per month awakened with nighttime symptoms
Minor limitation of activity
≥2 episodes of asthma during the past year that have required systemic corticosteroids.
Children using a preventive medication at baseline: We will assess for poorly controlled asthma. Any 1 of the following, during the prior 4 weeks (as defined by parent interview in the waiting room) will determine control:
An average of >2 days per week with asthma symptoms
>2 days per week with rescue medication use
≥2 nights per month awakened with nighttime symptoms
Some limitation of activity
≥2 episodes of asthma during the past year that have required systemic corticosteroids.

Exclusion Criteria

Significant underlying respiratory disease other than asthma (such as cystic fibrosis or chronic lung disease) that could potentially interfere with asthma-related outcome measures.
Significant co-morbid conditions (such as moderate to severe developmental delay, i.e. special education classroom or diagnosis) that could preclude participation in an education-based intervention.
Inability to speak or understand English (child or parent).
Children in foster care or other situations in which consent cannot be obtained from a guardian.
Prior enrollment in the study.

Study & Design

Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL

Study Design: SINGLE_GROUP

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Mobile-based Asthma Action Plan	Mobile-based Asthma Action Plan	The mobile phone based application features will include ambulatory peak flow and asthma symptoms diary, individualized treatment plan for routine care and during episodes of acute asthma symptoms, and education components to reinforce asthma self-management concepts.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Mobile Asthma Action Plan (AAP) Usage	Eight weeks	Median number of days per week (range 0-7) the Asthma Action Plan was utilized to record routine (daily) symptoms or peak flow measurements.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Asthma Control Test™ Scores	Baseline and eight weeks	The Asthma Control Test™ (ACT) is a 5 question health survey used to measure asthma control in individuals 12 years of age and older. The total sum scores range from 5-25. Higher scores mean that asthma is more controlled. The ACT is an efficient, reliable, and valid method of measuring asthma control, with or without, lung functioning measures such as spirometry. ACT helps identify and detect asthma patients who are not well controlled. ACT scores were examined pre- and post-intervention. A score total of 19 or less means asthma may not be well controlled. The timeframe is during the past 4 weeks. The scale range for Question 1 is "all the time" (1) to "none of the time" (5); Question 2 range: "more than once a day" (1) to "not at all" (5); Question 3 range: "4 or more nights a week" (1) to "not at all" (5); Question 4 range: "3 or more times per day" (1) to "not at all" (5); Question 5 range: "not controlled at all" (1) to "completely controlled" (5).
Asthma Self-Efficacy for Adolescent Children	Baseline and eight weeks	The Child Self-Efficacy instrument is a 14 item validated questionnaire designed to measure the child's self-efficacy with regard to attack prevention and attack management. The child will be required to select one of 5 responses ranging from "not at all sure" (1 point); "a little bit sure" (2 points); "fairly sure" (3 points); "quite sure" (4 points) to "completely sure" (5 points). Total score range from 14-70. The higher score represent a greater degree of self-efficacy. The Cronbach's α reliability = 0.75. The child self-efficacy questionnaire will be administered at baseline (pre-intervention) and at the end of the intervention (post-intervention).
Number of Participants That Utilized the Asthma Action Plan	Eight weeks	The frequency of utilization of the Asthma Action Plan for acute symptoms among the study population will be measured and compared to responses of daily prompts that will ask participants to record whether they used rescue medication.