Evaluation of an innovative mobile health programme for the self-management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (MH-COPD): protocol of a randomised controlled trial

• Published in: BMJ open Vol. 9; no. 4; p. e025381
• Main Authors: Ding, Hang, Karunanithi, Mohan, Ireland, Derek, McCarthy, Lisa, Hakim, Rekha, Phillips, Kirsten, Pradhan, Rahul, Seah, E-Hong, Bowman, Rayleen V, Fong, Kwun, Masel, Philip, Yang, Ian A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BMJ Publishing Group LTD 25-04-2019; BMJ Publishing Group
• Subjects: Chronic illnesses; Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; Clinical trials; Consent; Evidence-based medicine; Family physicians; Feasibility studies; Health Promotion - methods; Health Services Research; Hospitals; Humans; Lung diseases; Medical research; Patient Education as Topic - methods; Patients; Prospective Studies; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive - therapy; Quality of Life; Questionnaires; Research Design; Self Care - methods; Self-Management - education; Smartphone; Smoking Cessation - methods; Telemedicine - methods; Australia; chronic pulmonary obstructive disease; mobile health; self-management; randomized controlled trial
• ISSN: 2044-6055; 2044-6055
• DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-025381

IntroductionChronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the fourth leading cause of death globally. In outpatient care, the self-management of COPD is essential, but patient adherence to this remains suboptimal. The objective of this study is to examine whether an innovative mobile health (mHealth)-enabled care programme (MH-COPD) will improve the patient self-management and relevant health outcomes.Methods and analysisA prospective open randomised controlled trial has been designed. In the trial, patients with COPD will be recruited from The Prince Charles Hospital, Brisbane, Australia. They will then be randomised to participate in either the MH-COPD intervention group (n=50 patients), or usual care control group (UC-COPD) (n=50 patients) for 6 months. The MH-COPD programme has been designed to integrate an mHealth system within a clinical COPD care service. In the programme, participants will use a mHealth application at home to review educational videos, monitor COPD symptoms, use an electronic action plan, modify the risk factors of cigarette smoking and regular physical activity, and learn to use inhalers optimally. All participants will be assessed at baseline, 3 months and 6 months. The primary outcomes will be COPD symptoms and quality of life. The secondary outcomes will be patient adherence, physical activity, smoking cessation, use of COPD medicines, frequency of COPD exacerbations and hospital readmissions, and user experience of the mobile app.Ethics and disseminationThe clinical trial has been approved by The Prince Charles Hospital Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC/16/QPCH/252). The recruitment and follow-up of the trial will be from January 2019 to December 2020. The study outcomes will be disseminated according to the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials statement through a journal publication, approximately 6 months after finishing data collection.Trial registration numberACTRN12618001091291.