Feasibility of a Smartphone Application for Asthma Self-management

Summary

The primary goal of this project is to determine the feasibility, acceptability, and adherence of a smartphone application for improving asthma self-management in a pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT). The app is specifically designed to appeal to adolescents. Adolescents with persistent asthma will be randomized to receive: 1) standard-of-care or 2) the self-management app in addition to standard-of-care. Feasibility will be assessed by the ability to recruit and retain subjects, technical barriers to implementation, and the appropriateness of the intervention among adolescents and providers. The acceptability of the intervention will be determined by appraising perceived usefulness, entertainment, and ease of use of the app. Adherence to usage of the app over a 6-month period will be assessed by examining the frequency of app usage and the features that were used, and the extent of data regarding self-management that was entered. A secondary objective is to obtain preliminary estimates of effectiveness of the app on clinical outcomes (ACT score, spirometry, CHSA-C, exacerbations, and medication adherence) relative to standard-of-care. It is hypothesized that the app will result in a high level of adherence and will be a feasible and acceptable intervention to improve self-management among adolescents with persistent asthma.

Conditions

• Asthma Chronic

Interventions

DEVICE

Asthma SMART

The intervention is a smartphone application to improve self-management of asthma designed to appeal to adolescents. The app integrates four components to facilitate asthma self-management: 1) self-monitoring of peak-flow and symptoms; 2) graphical health user interfaces with avatars, infographics, and rewards; 3) interactive educational materials; and 4) patient-provider interactions.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)

  collaborator NIH

• University of South Florida

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Amy Alman, PhD · University of South Florida

• Marisa Couluris, DO · University of South Florida

• Paul Rosen, PhD · University of Utah

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

DEVICE_FEASIBILITY

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

12 Years

Max Age

17 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2023-06-26

Primary Completion

2025-06-30

Completion

2025-07-31

FDA Device

Yes

Countries

• United States

Study Locations