Development of a Provider-Focused Intervention to Improve Health Outcomes in Pediatric Sickle Cell Disease

Summary

The goal of this interventional study is to learn about the impact of an intervention for health care providers that teaches individuation and perspective-taking (IPT) skills to enhance patient-centered communication in pediatric sickle cell disease (SCD). The main question it aims to answer is:

Does an intervention that teaches individuation and perspective-taking (IPT) skills to pediatric sickle cell disease (SCD) health care providers (HCPs) enhance patient-centered communication?

Researchers will compare the IPT intervention to a control group who will receive education about SCD pain management to see if the IPT intervention improves patient-centered communication.

Participants will complete baseline surveys and then be randomly assigned into the intervention or control group. After completing their assigned session (IPT training or education), they will be asked to complete the same surveys as completed at baseline.

Conditions

• Sickle Cell Disease
• Sickle Cell Anemia in Children
• Sickle Cell Disease (SCD)
• Sickle Cell
• Sickle Cell Anemia (HbSS)

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Individuation and Perspective-Taking (IPT)

IPT currently consists of one 90-minute virtual training session that incorporates didactic education and practice using the IPT skills in the context of SCD patient stories. After reviewing didactic information about the impact of patient-centered communication on patient health behaviors (e.g., adherence), HCPs are introduced to the two IPT skills and taught how to practice them by changing their communication with patients. HCPs then watch short videos that are publicly available online depicting 3-5 patients with SCD that differ in demographics and symptom presentation. The intervention facilitator uses verbal prompts (e.g., How do participants think that patient must be feeling?) to assist HCPs in applying the IPT skills to each of these patients. Finally, the facilitator leads a discussion about HCP responses that are and are not consistent with the IPT skills and explores ways HCPs can apply the skills in their clinical practice.

OTHER

pediatric SCD pain management education session

The SCD pain management education session currently consists of one 90-minute virtual presentation that focuses on best practices in pediatric SCD pain management, including published guidelines from the American Society of Hematology.

Sponsors & Collaborators

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

  collaborator NIH

• Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

  collaborator OTHER

• Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Connecticut Children's Medical Center

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Siddika Mulchan, PsyD · Connecticut Children's Medical Center

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2027-09-01

Primary Completion

2030-03-31

Completion

2030-06-30

Countries

• United States

Study Locations