Effects of Social Networking on Chronic Disease Management in Arthritis

Summary

Objectives:

The overall goal of this study is to use the principles of chronic disease management to develop and test an online social networking intervention using the FB platform in a randomized controlled trial. Our specific objectives are as follows:

Aim 1: To develop and establish an independent closed community in FB for patients with rheumatoid arthritis, providing an educational platform for disease self-management and the potential for engaging in social networking with peers (Phase 2).

Objective 1. To beta test the features and navigation buttons and panels in the newly developed website and FB group.

Objective 2. To evaluate the contents, ease of use and satisfaction with the newly developed website and FB group by patient advocates (consultants to the study) who participate as members of the Facebook community.

Aim 2: To evaluate the efficacy of the FB community intervention combined with an educational website to improve patients' self-management (including knowledge, which is the primary outcome), decision making and patient-reported outcomes compared with the educational website alone (Phase 3). We hypothesize that participation in an online closed community offering evidence-based information combined with peer interaction and support will improve patients' knowledge.

Conditions

• Chronic Disease Management
• Rheumatoid Arthritis

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Questionnaires

Participants complete a self response electronic questionnaire at baseline, and at three and six months.

BEHAVIORAL

Facebook

Participant accesses Facebook page regarding rheumatoid arthritis.

BEHAVIORAL

Educational Website

Participant accesses Educational Website on the internet about rheumatoid arthritis.

BEHAVIORAL

Phone Interview

Research staff calls participant to obtain feedback about the websites. The interview will last approximately 30 minutes.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Rheumatology Research Foundation

  collaborator OTHER

• M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Angeles M. Lopez-Olivo, MD, PHD, MS · M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2016-04-07

Primary Completion

2023-06-07

Completion

2023-06-07

Countries

• United States

Study Locations