Article Text
PDF
Abstract
Objective To determine the feasibility of a randomised controlled trial (RCT) assessing the effects of an experience-based website as a resource for the self-management of chronic asthma.
Design and setting Feasibility, single-blind RCT in 2 regions of England. Randomisation used computer-generated random number sequence in a 1:1 ratio, after baseline data collection, to website access for 2 weeks.
Participants Adults (age ≥18 years), with clinically diagnosed asthma as coded in their primary care electronic record, prescribed inhaled corticosteroids for at least 3 months in the previous year, were recruited from 9 general practices.
Intervention The EXPERT asthma intervention is an interactive PC/laptop/tablet/smartphone compatible website designed with extensive input from adults with asthma. It provides experience-based information and aims to support subjective perception of self-efficacy, self-management and improve health status.
Outcome measures Primary outcomes were consent/recruitment, website usage and completion of outcome measures. Secondary outcomes included Partners in Health (PIH) questionnaire, the Chronic Disease Self-Efficacy Scale, the SF36 and the E-Health Impact Questionnaire. Participant blinding postrandomisation was not possible. The analysis was blind to allocation.
Results Recruitment target exceeded. 148 participants randomised (73 intervention group). Age range 19–84 years; 59% female. 121 of 148 (84%; 62 intervention group) followed up. The median number of logins was 2 (IQR 2–3, range 1–48). Minimal differences of change from baseline between groups; both showed improvement in health state or management of their condition with no significant differences between arms. No adverse events.
Conclusions Recruitment and retention confirmed feasibility. The trends towards improved outcomes suggest that further research on digital interventions based on exposure to others’ personal experiences may be of value in the self-management of chronic asthma.
Trial registration number ISRCTN29549695; Results.
- RESPIRATORY MEDICINE (see Thoracic Medicine)
This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Statistics from Altmetric.com
Footnotes
Twitter Follow Nikki Newhouse @nikkinewhouse
Twitter Follow Nikki Newhouse @nikkinewhouse.
Contributors JP and SZ led planning and development of the full programme of work with support from AM, NN and LL. NN, AM and MD were responsible for recruitment, MD was responsible for management of the online trial portal. L-MY led data analysis and interpretation with support from SJ. The wider iPEx study group provided extensive input and support at all stages of intervention development, delivery and evaluation. NN drafted the manuscript with additional input from JP and SZ. All authors critically reviewed the manuscript, contributing important intellectual content and approved the final manuscript.
Funding The iPEx programme presents independent research funded by the UK National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) under its Programme Grants for Applied Research funding scheme (RP-PG-0608-10147).
Disclaimer The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors, representing iPEx, and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health.
Competing interests None declared.
Ethics approval NHS Health Research Authority Research Ethics Committee.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
Data sharing statement The data sets analysed during the current study are available from the principal investigator (JP) on reasonable request. All trial data have been described in this paper.