Brief Lifestyle Medicine Preventive Randomized Prospective Interactive Educational Intervention in the Primary Care Clinic

Background and Summary of Objectives: It is widely accepted that prevention is far more impactful than curative medicine concerning overall health efficacy. The primary care setting faces the challenges of increasingly important time constraints and conflicting priorities. However, prevention is a priority regarding the improvement in health outcomes. In a previous pilot study, we investigated the impact of a simple instructional video on patients' willingness to change in the emergency department setting. The initial intervention was passive, requiring subjects to watch a video without interaction. The current study evaluates the practicality and impact of bringing a brief interactive educational video intervention to patients at the primary care clinic visit.

Summary of Study Design This randomized, non-blinded prospective study of "just in time" education for adult patients presenting to the primary care clinic immediately following their primary care appointment.

Patients will be randomized to receive the interactive intervention video during this encounter with the practitioner in the clinic. The intervention is an interactive video with a duration of approximately 10-15 minutes. The video is interactive because it asks the patients to answer simple questions about the content in the video to keep them engaged with the content. For instance, if the participant indicates that they do not smoke, the video will "skip" the smoking cessation education and move directly to the other prevention domains. Before leaving the clinic, all patients will be presented with a questionnaire about their readiness and confidence to initiate lifestyle changes (transtheoretical stage of change measured on a "readiness ruler") and additional survey instruments. Most of these questions will come from existing validated scales, including the Gillespie & Lenz behavior modification tool, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and select questions from the US HCAHPS Patient Satisfaction Survey. They will be asked for access to their medical record and their willingness to be contacted for a follow-up survey.

Outcome measures:

The study's primary outcome will be the results of the Lifestyle Readiness to Change and Confidence to Change questionnaires. Secondary outcomes will include satisfaction with the primary care clinic visit using select questions from HCAHPS, and whether they intend to change any specific lifestyle behavior (dichotomous, yes/no) and, if yes, to specific which one(s), seeking medical care outside of the clinic visit as determined by a review of the patient's medical record at intervals of 30 days and six months. HIV will not be evaluated outside of its inclusion in the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI). A follow-up survey at approximately 3-12 months will evaluate new diagnoses related to chest pain and ask about the individual's lifestyle changes.