Strengthening Referral Networks for Management of Hypertension Across the Health System (STRENGTHS)

Summary

"STRENGTHS" is a transdisciplinary implementation research study, guided by the PRECEDE-PROCEED framework, to address the challenge of improving hypertension control in low-resource settings. The investigators propose to test the hypothesis that referral networks strengthened by an integrated health information technology and peer support intervention will be effective and cost-effective in improving hypertension control among patients in western Kenya. The investigators hypothesise that the integrated Health information Technology and Peer Support intervention will facilitate seamless referral of hypertensive patients across the different levels of the health system compared to usual care, leading to improvement in blood pressure. If proven to be successful, STRENGTHS can serve as a model for improving referral of patients upstream and downstream in health systems worldwide.

Conditions

• Hypertension

Interventions

COMBINATION_PRODUCT

Health IT and Peer Support Intervention

Health IT will support referral system by establishing 1) communication between healthcare providers and peer navigators 2) decision support for clinician to facilitate appropriate referrals 3) tracking of referred patients real-time 4) dashboards to monitor key evaluation metrics. Peer Support intervention: peer navigators at each level of the referral network will ensure 1) referral adherence by link clinicians and patients 2) health system navigation 3) psychosocial support: leverage their shared disease experience to help patients overcome barriers to health seeking behaviour.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Indiana University

  collaborator OTHER

• Duke University

  collaborator OTHER

• Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

  collaborator OTHER

• Purdue University

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Texas at Austin

  collaborator OTHER

• Moi University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Constantine O Akwanalo · Moi University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2020-01-17

Primary Completion

2023-05-31

Completion

2023-05-31

Countries

• Kenya

Study Locations