Inventi Impact: Telemedicine

Inventi:etm/18138/15

A Mobile Telehealth Intervention for Adults with Insulin-requiring Diabetes: Early Results of a\nMixed-methods Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: The role of technology in health care delivery has grown rapidly in the last decade. The potential of mobile\ntelehealth (MTH) to support patient self-management is a key area of research. Providing patients with technological tools that\nallow for the recording and transmission of health parameters to health care professionals (HCPs) may promote behavior changes\nthat result in improved health outcomes. Although for some conditions the evidence of the effectiveness of MTH is clear, to date\nthe findings on the effects of MTH on diabetes management remain inconsistent.\nObjective: This study aims to evaluate an MTH intervention among insulin-requiring adults with diabetes to establish whether\nsupplementing standard care with MTH results in improved health outcomes�glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), blood pressure\n(BP), health-related quality of life (HRQoL), diabetes self-management behaviors, diabetes health care utilization, and diabetes\nself-efficacy and illness beliefs. An additional objective was to explore the acceptability of MTH and patients� perceptions of,\nand experience, using it.\nMethods: A mixed-method design consisting of a 9-month, two-arm, parallel randomized controlled trial (RCT) was used in\ncombination with exit qualitative interviews. Quantitative data was collected at baseline, 3 months, and 9 months. Additional\nintervention fidelity data, such as participants� MTH transmissions and contacts with the MTH nurse during the study, were also\nrecorded.\nResults: Data collection for both the quantitative and qualitative components of this study has ended and data analysis is ongoing.\nA total of 86 participants were enrolled into the study. Out of 86 participants, 45 (52%) were randomized to the intervention\ngroup and 36 (42%) to the control group. Preliminary data on MTH training sessions and MTH usage by intervention participants\nare presented in this paper. We expect to publish complete study results in 2015.\nConclusions: The range of data collected in this study will allow for a comprehensive evaluation of processes and outcomes.\nThe early results presented suggest that MTH usage decreases over time and that MTH participants would benefit from attending\nmore than one training session.