Skip to content

Evaluation of a Novel Technology to Support Tailored Health Behavior Counseling in Rural Primary Care Clinics

Evaluation of a Novel Technology to Support Tailored Health Behavior Counseling in Rural Primary Care Clinics

Status
Recruiting
Phases
Unknown
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT06397729
Acronym
Rural PREVENT
Enrollment
100
Registered
2024-05-03
Start date
2024-11-01
Completion date
2027-07-30
Last updated
2026-07-17

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

Conditions

Cardiovascular Diseases, Obesity

Keywords

Digital health, Behavior Change, Physical Activity, Diet, Cardiovascular Disease, Obesity, Rural health

Brief summary

This project will conduct a pilot hybrid study that examines the implementation (Aims 1 & 2) and preliminary effectiveness (Aim 3) of PREVENT, a digital health intervention, among patients with overweight/obesity (N=100) using a clinic-randomized design. The central hypothesis of the study is that PREVENT will be feasible and show improvements in health behavior counseling and the patient experience that will improve patients' motivation to change, and their CVH health behaviors and outcomes.

Detailed description

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevalence is 40% higher among rural than urban residents in the United States. Maintaining healthy weight, physical activity, and food intake behaviors promotes cardiovascular health (CVH) and prevents CVD. The Health Resources and Services Administration requires health behavior counseling and follow-up care for patients with elevated body mass index. Counseling is most effective when developed with and tailored to the patient and offered with resources that support healthy food intake and physical activity. Healthcare teams are challenged by the lack of accessible evidence-based, tailored recommendations and limited awareness of patient health behaviors and community resources, all of which are compounded by lack of time within the clinical workflow. Yet, digital health tools that can facilitate quality counseling and follow-up are not readily available for primary care teams - particularly those in low-resourced rural settings. The investigators will leverage our existing digital health tool (PREVENT) for healthcare teams, including Community Health Workers (CHWs), to use at the point-of-care with rural low-income patients who are overweight or obese and often have more severe social needs. PREVENT visually displays patient-reported and electronic health record data to facilitate counseling and deliver tailored physical activity and healthy food intake goals and resources. The investigators have been working with the Missouri Highlands Health Care, a federally-qualified health center with 10 clinics across 7 rural counties that has an existing CHW network, to adapt our tool to meet the needs of their health care teams and patients. This project will examine the implementation (Aims 1 & 2) and preliminary effectiveness (Aim 3) of PREVENT among patients with overweight/obesity (N=100) using a clinic-randomized design in four clinics. The investigators believe that PREVENT will be feasible and show improvements in health behavior counseling and the patient experience that will improve patients' motivation to change, CVH health behaviors, and outcomes. The investigators will seek to understand factors impacting implementation and sustainment of this approach to streamline the translation of this tool into routine care. Our ultimate goal is to improve CVH with enhanced health behavior counseling and follow-up using a multi-level approach that targets health behaviors and unmet social needs to give everyone an equal opportunity for health.

Interventions

BEHAVIORALWait-List Control

Will receive routine clinical care. After completion of follow-up measures, control participants will receive a behavior change prescription via the PREVENT tool

BEHAVIORALPREVENT Tool

PREVENT is a novel Health Information Technology tool designed to promote physical activity and healthy food intake among overweight/obese patients at the point of care. PREVENT automates the delivery of personalized, evidence-based behavior change recommendations and provides an interactive map of community resources to help the care team link patients to resources in their community. PREVENT follows up with patients electronically and communicates progress on behavior change to the care team.

Sponsors

Washington University School of Medicine
Lead SponsorOTHER
Missouri Highlands Health Care
CollaboratorUNKNOWN

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 64 Years
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

Patient Inclusion Criteria: * Aged 18-64 years at baseline * At risk for poor CVH (body mass index greater than or equal to 30) * Receiving care from the Missouri Highlands Healthcare * Ability to understand and willingness to sign an IRB approved written informed consent document (or that of legally authorized representative, if applicable) Provider Inclusion Criteria: • All providers and clinic staff (physicians, nurses, community health workers, clinic staff, clinic research associates) in the Missouri Highlands Healthcare Clinics are eligible to participate.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Healthcare team member confidencebaseline, at study completion (3 years)A survey (4-questions) will assess provider's confidence in delivering health behavior counseling and discussing cardiovascular health with patients. Questions are asked on a 5-point Likert scale (range: 4-20) with a higher score indicating greater satisfaction. Change in confidence from baseline to post-study will be compared in intervention clinics versus control clinics.
Quality counselingWithin 48 hours of clinic visitA 12 question survey will ask patients 1) if they have been counseled on 10 topics Life's Essential 8 (obesity, blood pressure, physical activity, food intake, smoking, sleep, cholesterol, and diabetes), and two distractor topics (flu vaccination and seat belt use); 2) if they received goals for healthy eating and/or physical activity; and 3) if they received resources to support their health. Discussion of physical activity and/or food intake will satisfy that health behavior counseling was delivered. Yes' to physical activity or food intake counseling and 'yes' to receipt of tailored goals and/or resources will satisfy the 'quality behavioral counseling' outcome.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Provider satisfactionat study completion (3 years)A survey (33-questions) will assess provider's acceptability and satisfaction with five aspects of health information technology (content, accuracy, format, ease of use and timeliness) and PREVENT's fit with their clinic workflow. Questions are asked on a 5-point Likert scale (range: 33-165) with a higher score indicating greater satisfaction.
Shared Decision Making3 months into studyDirect observation of intervention visits will be conducted using the Observing Patient Involvement in Decision Making instrument62 to understand the extent to which the PREVENT tool facilitates shared decision making.
Resource Offering6-monthsThe number and type of resources offered will be tracked by PREVENT for each patient
Patient satisfactionWithin 48 hours of clinic visitA survey (6-questions) will assess patient's satisfaction with the PREVENT tool. Questions are asked on a 5-point Likert scale (range: 6-30) with a higher score indicating greater satisfaction.
Patient motivation to changeAt baseline, 3 months and 6-monthsA survey (11-question) administered to patients will assess motivation and self-efficacy for behavior change. Questions are asked using a 5-point Likert scale (range: 11-55) with a higher score indicating greater motivation.
Change in patients knowledge of CVHAt baseline, 3 months and 6-monthsA survey (4-question) administered to patients to assess their knowledge of CVH risk (perceived value/importance of healthy behaviors) and awareness of resources. Questions are asked using a 5-point Likert scale (range: 4-20) with a higher score indicating greater knowledge.
Change in food intake behaviorsAt baseline, 3 months and 6-monthsPatients report servings per week or per day for fruit intake, vegetable intake, whole grains, sugar-sweetened beverages, fast food consumption, and snacking behaviors.
Change in physical activity behaviorsAt baseline, 3 months and 6-monthsPatient-reported physical activity (minutes of moderate and vigorous activity per week) are collected using a survey (4-questions). Patients report the average number of minutes of moderate and vigorous activity they do per week.
Change in body mass index (BMI) index z-scoreAt baseline, and 6-monthsCollected from patient's medical record.
Change on patient's average systolic and diastolic blood pressureAt baseline, and 6-monthsCollected from patient's medical record
Change in patient's cholesterol at baseline and at study completionAt baseline, and 6-monthsCollected from patient's medical record
Change in patient's blood glucose at baseline and at study completionAt baseline, and 6-monthsCollected from patient's medical record

Countries

United States

Contacts

CONTACTMaura Kepper, PhD
kepperm@wustl.edu314-935-0142
PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORMaura Kepper, PhD

Washington University School of Medicine

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Jul 18, 2026