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Electronic Patient-reported Outcomes (e-PROs) in Early Intervention

Not Applicable
Completed
Conditions
Developmental Disability
Development Delay
Interventions
Behavioral: Young Children's Participation and Environment Measure (YC-PEM) electronic patient-reported outcome (e-PRO)
Registration Number
NCT03904797
Lead Sponsor
University of Illinois at Chicago
Brief Summary

A major goal of early intervention (EI) is to employ a family-centered approach to helping children to optimally function at home and in the community. However, the effects of EI are poorly understood. The aims of this project are: 1) to test the feasibility, acceptability, and value of introducing novel electronic patient-reported outcome (e-PRO) measures in EI, to strengthen family-centered EI care; and 2) to obtain and pair these outcomes data with EI program data, to further determine the value of e-PRO data collection for examining links between EI service use and functional outcomes among families who are enrolled in a large, urban EI program.

Detailed Description

Approximately 5,800 infants and toddlers with developmental disabilities (e.g., cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, complex chronic conditions) and delays access Early Intervention Colorado (EI-CO) annually. A primary goal of EI-CO is to employ a family-centered care approach to help children optimally function at home and in the community. Hence, early intervention is a common source of rehabilitation (i.e., physical, occupational, speech and language therapy) for EI-CO eligible families.

However, the effects of EI-CO are poorly understood. Numerous challenges exist with obtaining EI-CO outcomes data, including a paucity of validated and feasible functional outcome measures for use in EI outcomes reporting. These challenges have resulted in inadequate knowledge about EI service use and outcomes to guide service delivery. Despite these challenges, recent policy changes have resulted in EI-CO service providers being pressed to ensure high quality care with limited resources and evidence to guide their clinical decision-making about effective and efficient interventions. This proposal addresses the need to fill critical knowledge gaps about the adequacy of EI services with an eye toward improving care quality.

This study involves families who have/are receiving EI-CO services through Rocky Mountain Human Services (RMHS), the largest EI program in Denver Metro. The purpose of this study is to test the feasibility, acceptability, and value of collecting electronic patient-reported outcomes (e-PRO) data to engage families when their child is due for an annual evaluation of progress. To further demonstrate the value of e-PRO data collection, these data will be paired with program data to estimate the association between EI-CO service use and functional outcomes.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
149
Inclusion Criteria
  • Caregiver is at least 18 years old;
  • Caregiver can read, write, and speak English or Spanish;
  • Caregiver had internet access;
  • Caregiver has a child between 0-3 years old who had received early intervention at RMHS for at least 3 months.
Exclusion Criteria
  • Caregiver is less than 18 years old
  • Caregiver reads, speaks, and writes in a language other than English or Spanish
  • Caregiver does not have internet access
  • Caregiver has a child who has received EI services for less than 3 months
  • Caregiver has a child older than 3 years (36 months)

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
SINGLE_GROUP
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
e-PROYoung Children's Participation and Environment Measure (YC-PEM) electronic patient-reported outcome (e-PRO)EI service coordinators participated in a 90-minute training on the study protocol, to gain clearance to recruit families when they were being contacted to schedule their annual reviews of progress. The recruitment protocol was later modified in response to low enrollment, such that a designated EI staff member was paired with research staff to recruit participants. Eligible and interested caregivers visited the project website to create an account, confirmed study eligibility, provided informed consent and HIPAA authorization for abstracting select EI service use data, and completed a demographic questionnaire and the Young Children's Participation and Environment Measure (YC-PEM) e-PRO. Caregivers received immediate access to an online report summarizing their e-PRO responses to share with their child's EI team
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
YC-PEM e-PRO Value as assessed by proportion of participants viewing e-PRO online reportup to 4 weeks

The percentage of participants who viewed a summary of their e-PRO responses via an online report was estimated.

YC-PEM e-PRO Acceptability as assessed by caregiver perceptions of overall helpfulnessup to 4 weeks

Caregiver responses to an open-ended item were coded into a one of three categories (yes, helpful; somewhat helpful; not helpful) to create a new variable that captured the extent to which caregivers perceived the YC-PEM e-PRO to be useful for planning EI care.

YC-PEM e-PRO Feasibility as assessed by enrollment rateup to 4 weeks

Enrollment rate was estimated as the proportion of eligible participants who enrolled in the study. The success of feasibility was determined as e-PRO enrollment rates of 50% or higher based on what is known about the percentage of families who opt into family assessment as part of usual care.

YC-PEM e-PRO Feasibility as assessed by completion rateup to 4 weeks

Feasibility was determined as the proportion of participants who enrolled that completed the YC-PEM e-PRO. The success of feasibility was determined as completion rates of 50% or higher based on family assessment completion rates within usual care.

YC-PEM e-PRO Feasibility as assessed by completion time in minutes and secondsup to 4 weeks

The success of feasibility was determined as e-PRO completion time of less than 45 minutes based on family assessment completion time within usual care.

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
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