Randomized Prospective Trial of a Mobile Health Application for Asthma Self-Management
Condition: Asthma
MeSH terms: Asthma
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The investigators aim to study the clinical efficacy of a mobile health application,
      AsthmaCare, and it's impact on long term health outcomes for asthma. AsthmaCare is a novel
      application developed by members of the study team that was previously studied in a pilot
      study of 21 children/teenagers 9-16 years old. During the 30 day pilot study, there was
      universal usage and acceptance by all participants of this novel form of technology and
      asthma management. This current study aims to measure clinical outcomes for users of the app.
    

Detailed description: 
      AsthmaCare is a novel mobile health application that integrates personalized asthma reminders
      with self management feedback. Users input their prescribed daily controller medications and
      personal asthma triggers upon first loading the app. Reminder messages are pushed through the
      device at predetermined times to take controller medications. Once daily push notifications
      are sent to the user regarding tips to avoid preselected asthma triggers.

      Users are asked to input their use of controller medications, which is entered into a
      medication log. Every interaction will unlock reward points as gaming theory is integrated
      into AsthmaCare to maintain user engagement.

      If symptoms occur or if rescue medication use is logged into AsthmaCare, the user is
      automatically directed to an interactive asthma self-management plan, aka written asthma
      treatment plan. When users are in the yellow zone, they receive notifications every 4 hours
      regarding symptom update or rescue medication use. When users are in the red zone, these
      notifications occur every 1 hour. When users are in the green zone (baseline, no symptoms),
      they will receive motivational messages every 24 hours to maintain engagement with the app as
      well as remind them to continue to use controller medications.

      In addition to medication reminders and an interactive self-management plan, AsthmaCare
      provides links to the nearest National Pollen Bureau counting station and allows for
      symptom/medication diaries to be emailed for sharing with providers or printing.

      Mobile health applications, particularly for asthma, have not been studies in prospective
      clinical trials to demonstrate ongoing user engagement or efficacy. This study aims to
      determine whether users of an asthma mobile health application will have superior clinical
      outcomes compared with traditional asthma management.
    

Intervention name(s): AsthmaCare mobile health application; Asthma education
Intervention type(s): Other; Other
Intervention description(s): Personalized, interactive mobile health application designed to send daily medication reminders and assist with self management; A website with links to written asthma education and videos
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: asthma