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Study to Test the Efficacy of Online Education to Increase Safe Use of Opioid Medication.

Medication Safety Pilot Study

Status
Completed
Phases
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT01770314
Enrollment
176
Registered
2013-01-17
Start date
2012-09-30
Completion date
2013-09-30
Last updated
2014-05-19

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Medication Adherence

Keywords

Opioid Pain Medication, Medication Safety, Correct storage, Correct disposal, Correct Use

Brief summary

The purpose of this project is to test whether an online pain medication intervention is a feasible and effective way to increase opioid pain medication safety.

Detailed description

The goal of the study is to test the efficacy of the pain medication safety intervention for increasing safe management of prescription medication opioids. The study will use a randomized, controlled design that compares the intervention (painACTION medication safety lessons) to a waitlist control condition. The hypotheses related to efficacy are that, as compared to the control group, people in the experimental group will demonstrate: 1. Increased self-efficacy for how to safely manage medications (primary outcome) 2. Increased behaviors associated with safely managing medication (secondary outcome) Participants: Investigators will recruit the first 148 respondents who meet the inclusion criteria and consent to be in the study. Experimental Group. Participants will be given instructions via email to review eleven online lessons about opioid medication safety. Instructions will suggest that participants view one lesson per day for eleven consecutive days. Each educational lesson focuses on one or two aspects of medication safety, including how to safely store medication, and the importance of taking medication exactly as prescribed. Control Group. The control group is a waitlist control. Participants will be given access to painACTION after the intervention period and follow up assessments are completed. Randomization: Participants will be randomized by gender and age. Procedure: Participants will be recruited with the help of the participating clinic. Staff members will let people know about the study by giving out informational fliers. The flier will direct people who are interested in participating in the study to an online screener. Those who screen in will automatically be lead to a consent form. Participants randomized to use painACTION will be sent the link to the online program and provided with a code that will serve as a Personal Identification Number (PIN) to access the program and return for subsequent sessions. The codes will also allow research staff to track program activity. The numbers are generated as participants agree to participate in the study and will begin with 0001 and continue to 0140 as the investigators add participants. The Research Coordinator will only provide assistance with the technical aspects of navigating the program. All assessments will be administered online. The battery will take no more than thirty minutes to complete. Several studies have determined that online assessments have many advantages over other modes of data collection (Webb et al., 1999; Yun, 2000). Online administration allows: (1) automation of the data collection process; (2) standardization of administration; (3) the use of personalized e-mail invitations at the precise assessment time points; (4) opportunities for participants to complete questionnaires on their own time and in the setting most comfortable to them; and (5) greater protection of confidentiality and conservation of resources because no written record exists. In addition, a number of studies have demonstrated that participants prefer computer-assisted self-interviews to traditional methods of data collection, and are more honest with computers (Johnston & Walton, 1995, Paperny et al., 2000). The increase in precision translates to greater power to detect real effect differences and higher confidence in the validity of the data. Information will not be saved if the browser is closed and the questionnaire has not been completed and submitted. Assessments: Data will be collected from participants at baseline, immediately after the intervention, and one month post intervention.

Interventions

BEHAVIORALExperimental

Participants will be given instructions via email to review eleven online lessons about opioid medication safety. Instructions will suggest that participants view one lesson per day for eleven consecutive days. Each educational lesson focuses on one or two aspects of medication safety, including how to safely store medication, and the importance of taking medication exactly as prescribed.

Sponsors

Inflexxion, Inc.
Lead SponsorINDUSTRY

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
SINGLE (Subject)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

* Be willing and able to provide consent * Have the ability to read and write English * Diagnosis of non-cancer chronic pain * Prescribed opioids and taking consistently for 3 months. * Over 18 years old

Exclusion criteria

* Previously visited painACTION

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Self-efficacy - 8 Item Measure Taps Into Key Concepts Associated With Confidence for Managing Opioid MedicationsBaseline - Day 1, Posttest - Day 16 (intervention took 15 days), One month Followup - at 1 month post-interventionResponses are measured on a 4-point Likert scale (1= Not at all confident and 4= Extremely confident). The total Score range:8=least confident, 32=most confident. How confident do you feel in your ability to do each of the following activities, today? 1. I can recognize side effects that are related to my opioid medicine. 2. I can avoid giving my opioid medicine to someone else. Etc.. 1 - Not at all confident 2 - Somewhat confident 3 - Very confident 4 - Extremely confident Items have been generated from literature. Content validity: assessed by asking two experts if items are important and relevant. Internal consistency of the items in the pilot measure will be assessed (Cronbach's alpha). Test-retest reliability will be explored by asking 50 participants in the control group to retake the pilot measure within 3-5 days of having taken the measure as part of the pretest.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Satisfaction With the ProgramOne-month followup assessmentWe tested and analyzed participants' satisfaction with the program by asking the question: Overall, how satisfied were you with the lessons. They answered on a 4 point Likert scale: 1=Not at all satisfied, 2=Somewhat Satisfied, 3=Satisfied, 4 = Very satisfied. Higher values indicate higher satisfaction.

Countries

United States

Participant flow

Recruitment details

Participants were recruited via an online advertisement as well as through posters

Participants by arm

ArmCount
Experimental
Participants will be given instructions via email to review eleven online lessons about opioid medication safety. Instructions will suggest that participants view one lesson per day for eleven consecutive days. Each educational lesson focuses on one or two aspects of medication safety, including how to safely store medication, and the importance of taking medication exactly as prescribed.
90
Control
The control group is a waitlist control. Participants will be given access to painACTION after the intervention period and follow up assessments are completed.
86
Total176

Baseline characteristics

CharacteristicControlExperimentalTotal
Age, Categorical
<=18 years
0 Participants0 Participants0 Participants
Age, Categorical
>=65 years
1 Participants7 Participants8 Participants
Age, Categorical
Between 18 and 65 years
85 Participants83 Participants168 Participants
Age, Continuous45 years
STANDARD_DEVIATION 10.5
47 years
STANDARD_DEVIATION 11.8
46 years
STANDARD_DEVIATION 11.2
Region of Enrollment
United States
86 participants90 participants176 participants
Sex: Female, Male
Female
55 Participants57 Participants112 Participants
Sex: Female, Male
Male
31 Participants33 Participants64 Participants

Adverse events

Event typeEG000
affected / at risk
EG001
affected / at risk
deaths
Total, all-cause mortality
— / —— / —
other
Total, other adverse events
0 / 900 / 86
serious
Total, serious adverse events
0 / 900 / 86

Outcome results

Primary

Self-efficacy - 8 Item Measure Taps Into Key Concepts Associated With Confidence for Managing Opioid Medications

Responses are measured on a 4-point Likert scale (1= Not at all confident and 4= Extremely confident). The total Score range:8=least confident, 32=most confident. How confident do you feel in your ability to do each of the following activities, today? 1. I can recognize side effects that are related to my opioid medicine. 2. I can avoid giving my opioid medicine to someone else. Etc.. 1 - Not at all confident 2 - Somewhat confident 3 - Very confident 4 - Extremely confident Items have been generated from literature. Content validity: assessed by asking two experts if items are important and relevant. Internal consistency of the items in the pilot measure will be assessed (Cronbach's alpha). Test-retest reliability will be explored by asking 50 participants in the control group to retake the pilot measure within 3-5 days of having taken the measure as part of the pretest.

Time frame: Baseline - Day 1, Posttest - Day 16 (intervention took 15 days), One month Followup - at 1 month post-intervention

ArmMeasureGroupValue (LEAST_SQUARES_MEAN)Dispersion
ExperimentalSelf-efficacy - 8 Item Measure Taps Into Key Concepts Associated With Confidence for Managing Opioid MedicationsBaseline Least Square Means (n=72, 68)28.1081 units on a scaleStandard Error 0.5412
ExperimentalSelf-efficacy - 8 Item Measure Taps Into Key Concepts Associated With Confidence for Managing Opioid MedicationsPost-test Least Square Means (n=67,65)29.7143 units on a scaleStandard Error 0.4222
ExperimentalSelf-efficacy - 8 Item Measure Taps Into Key Concepts Associated With Confidence for Managing Opioid MedicationsOne-month follow-up Least Square Means (n=66,61)30.2064 units on a scaleStandard Error 0.4246
ControlSelf-efficacy - 8 Item Measure Taps Into Key Concepts Associated With Confidence for Managing Opioid MedicationsBaseline Least Square Means (n=72, 68)27.0563 units on a scaleStandard Error 0.5525
ControlSelf-efficacy - 8 Item Measure Taps Into Key Concepts Associated With Confidence for Managing Opioid MedicationsPost-test Least Square Means (n=67,65)28.3224 units on a scaleStandard Error 0.4254
ControlSelf-efficacy - 8 Item Measure Taps Into Key Concepts Associated With Confidence for Managing Opioid MedicationsOne-month follow-up Least Square Means (n=66,61)28.5664 units on a scaleStandard Error 0.4352
Secondary

Satisfaction With the Program

We tested and analyzed participants' satisfaction with the program by asking the question: Overall, how satisfied were you with the lessons. They answered on a 4 point Likert scale: 1=Not at all satisfied, 2=Somewhat Satisfied, 3=Satisfied, 4 = Very satisfied. Higher values indicate higher satisfaction.

Time frame: One-month followup assessment

Population: We only analyzed satisfaction data for experimental participants who had indicated that they disposed of their unused opioid medications (n=17)

ArmMeasureValue (MEAN)Dispersion
ExperimentalSatisfaction With the Program3.6470588 units on a scaleStandard Deviation 0.6063391

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026