The purpose of this pilot study is to test OACareTools+, an intervention for healthcare providers that combines education, patient resources and support from a national organization, to help them make referrals of patients with arthritis to the Walk With Ease program. This intervention was designed to increase referrals of patients with arthritis to the Walk With Ease program.
Participants will be clinicians (n= 50) in a primary care practice and a subset of patients (n=10). The study team will deliver education and resources to providers in a training session about Walk With Ease. After the provider training, providers will use the study resources to refer patients with arthritis to Walk With Ease. Healthcare provider participants will complete surveys after their first referral and at the end of the study (12-months). Patient participants who are referred to Walk With Ease through the OACareTools+ intervention will participate in interviews about their experience (6-weeks) with the referral process. Primary endpoints of the study will be 1) number of healthcare providers that referred patients to Walk With Ease 2) number of Walk With Ease patient participants 3) healthcare provider acceptability and feasibility 4) patient acceptability of the intervention.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
60
OACareTools+ is a healthcare provider intervention that combines healthcare provider education, customized patient and clinical resources, and technical support from a national organization to facilitate provider counseling on and referral to as well as patient engagement in Walk With Ease. There are 2 main parts to this intervention: 1) Healthcare provider education: The study team will deliver the provider education and resources (including information about Walk With Ease and the established referral process/smartphrase) in a presentation providers at a weekly clinician meeting and in follow-up emails. 2) Implementation: Providers will use the resources to briefly counsel patients about physical activity and Walk With Ease and use the smartphrase to refer patients to Walk With Ease. Patients will register for and participate in the online Walk With Ease program. Patients and providers can seek assistance from the national organization as needed during these processes.
UNC Thurston Arthritis Research Center
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States
Number of healthcare providers who referred patients
Healthcare providers in the pilot clinic who refer patients to the Walk With Ease program using the study referral process and resources
Time frame: 12 months
Number of patients who registered for Walk With Ease
Patients from the pilot clinic who are referred to and register in the Walk With Ease program
Time frame: 12 months
Healthcare provider acceptability
The Acceptability of Intervention Measure is a measure of implementation outcomes, including 4 items ranked on a Likert scale of 1 (completely disagree) to 5 (completely agree), with a summed total ranging from 4-20 where higher scores indicate greater acceptability; measured via electronic survey.
Time frame: Measure collected up to 2 months after provider's first referral
Healthcare provider feasibility
The Feasibility of Intervention Measure is a measure of implementation outcomes, including 4 items ranked on a Likert scale of 1 (completely disagree) to 5 (completely agree), with a summed total ranging from 4-20 where higher scores indicate greater feasibility; measured via electronic survey.
Time frame: Measure collected up to 2 months after provider's first referral
Patient acceptability
The Acceptability of Intervention Measure is a measure of implementation outcomes, including 4 items ranked on a Likert scale of 1 (completely disagree) to 5 (completely agree), with a summed total ranging from 4-20 where higher scores indicate greater acceptability; measured via telephone interview.
Time frame: 6-weeks post- Walk With Ease registration
Patient usefulness: educational resources
During a phone interview, patients will be asked, "How helpful were the education materials given to you by your healthcare provider?" They will be asked to use a scale, 0-10, where 0 is not helpful at all and 10 is extremely helpful. Higher scores indicate greater levels of helpfulness.
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Time frame: 6-weeks post- Walk With Ease registration
Patient usefulness: clinician referral to Walk With Ease
During a phone interview, patients will be asked, "How helpful was it to talk with healthcare provider about physical activity and Walk With Ease?" They will be asked to use a scale, 0-10, where 0 is not helpful at all and 10 is extremely helpful. Higher scores indicate greater levels of helpfulness.
Time frame: 6-weeks post- Walk With Ease registration