A Study of the Effect of Patient Education (Talking Health Together) in Improving Doctor-patient Communication

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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This study is being carried out to see if patients make the lifestyle changes or take their medication as instructed by their doctor during their visit as a result of the T.H.T. patient-education training. Proper information exchange between doctors and patients is an important part of quality health care. Although many patients would like more information, they often do not ask for it directly during doctor-patient visits. The patient-training in this study specifically aims at improving patient participation during medical appointments by building communication skills such as requests for information and sharing health concerns with the doctor.

Official Title
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A Multi-centre, Randomised Trial in Ontario to Evaluate the Efficacy of Talking Health Together T.M. (T.H.T. in Practice), a Communication Education Intervention for Primary Care Patients With Chronic Disease.

Conditions
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Doctor-patient Communication Improvement

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: THT PACE Training
* Behavioral: THT PACE Training
* Other: placebo


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Male or female, aged 40 years of age or greater Clinical documentation of diagnosis not to target of at least one of the following: Type II Diabetes Mellitus, Hypertension or Hypercholesterolemia Receive a prescribed medication for the chronic disease for which they were included in the study Exclusion Criteria: Patients in active phase of cancer treatment (i.e. chemotherapy or radiotherapy at time of study). Inability to carry out the encounter with their physician in English without need of assistance Uncomfortable using a computer for routine activities such as regular access to the web and e-mail.

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 40 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Prevention
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Active Comparator: THT PACE eLearning module<br>The PACE (prepare, ask, check, express) training methodology will be available to patients before their 2nd doctor visit | Behavioral: THT PACE Training<br>* Patient training<br>|
| Active Comparator: THT PACE eLearning module & nurse-led workshop training<br>THT PACE eLearning and then nurse-led workshop for training on PACE methodology | Behavioral: THT PACE Training<br>* Patient training<br>|
| Placebo Comparator: Usual care<br>Patients just go to their doctor as they normally would but get some disease specific information in the form of brochures as do intervention arms | Other: placebo<br> <br> |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| To evaluate the impact, compared to Usual Care, of training interventions on patients with chronic disease on patient participation in primary care encounters assessed after intervention. |  | once | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| physician satisfaction and sense of partnership with the doctor-patient encounter; |  |  | 
| patient perception of quality of doctor-patient communication and relationship and patient confidence in own ability to communicate effectively with their doctor; |  | Twice | 
| patient perception of the management of their chronic disease(s); and patient recall of discussions of lifestyle recommendations and chronic disease medications discussed during the encounter. |  | Twice | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Doctor-patient communication, Encounters, Patient education training