Do Technology Apps Improve Compliance in Adolescent Renal Transplant Recipients?

The research team as well and principal investigator will identify and verify patient eligibility. Patients who are unable to speak or converse via sign language will be excluded. All participants will need to provide informed written consent.

For recruitment and informed consent, the expected benefits, risks, and uncertainties will be discussed with participants and their families. Participants will be offered enrollment in either the randomized trial or a concurrent observational cohort, which may be more feasible for families who live further away and have alternative insurance plans (Kaiser). The results of the concurrent observational cohort can be reported at a later time.

Enrollment will begin in April 2015 and end in April 2016. This is to ensure that patients who may miss an appointment can still be recruited in the following months.

Baseline variables will be collected prior to randomization including questionnaire and baseline characteristics such as age, creatinine, weight, height, BMI, urine protein-to-creatinine ratio, donor specific antibody levels, and blood pressure will be recorded. Blood draws will be done per standard of care only and blood samples will not be stored for research purposes. Computer-generated random treatment assignments will be made based on permuted blocks (randomly generated blocks of 3).

The experimental arm will have all participants attend monthly renal transplant adolescent clinic where the participant will undergo a 25-question baseline questionnaire focusing on the participant's current knowledge of own medical condition, medications, medication dosage, insurance coverage, daily fluid goal, blood pressure goal, voiding schedule, etc.