EmPhAsIS: Empowering Pharmacists in Asthma Management Through Interactive SMS

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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Between 8% and 12% of Canadians suffer from asthma. Although there are effective and inexpensive treatments, adherence to asthma treatment is amongst the lowest for all chronic diseases.The purpose of this study is to determine whether enhancing the role of community pharmacists in asthma management using interactive short messaging service (SMS) with asthma patients is a cost-effective model that will improve adherence to inhaled corticosteroid medications compared to usual care.

Official Title
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EmPhAsIS: Empowering Pharmacists in Asthma Management Through Interactive SMS

Conditions
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Asthma

Intervention / Treatment
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* Other: Interactive SMS
* Other: Usual care


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: individuals who fill a (incident or prevalent) prescription for inhaled corticosteroids (either monotherapy or in combination inhaler with long-acting beta-agonists) who have been diagnosed by a doctor as having asthma possessing a cell-phone with ability to send/receive text messages residing in British Columbia (BC), Canada and planning to reside in BC for the next 12 months registered with the medical services plan (MSP, the provincial insure of medically-required services) in the past 12 months, and planning to remain registered for the next 12 months designated pharmacy being the main drugstore for patient not participating in another interventional study consent to participate in the study. Exclusion Criteria: Unable to communicate in English Under 14 years of age

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 14 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: Health Services Research
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Interactive SMS<br>Intervention with interactive SMS (text messaging) by which patients are asked to disclose their level of agreement with the following statement I follow my asthma medication plan and pharmacist follow-up | Other: Interactive SMS<br> <br> |
| Active Comparator: Usual care<br>Pharmacist conducted patient education, counseling and action-plan | Other: Usual care<br> <br> |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Adherence to inhaled corticosteroid medication | Adherence assessed by medication possession ratio | 12 months | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Asthma control | Asthma control assessed by the Asthma Control Test | Baseline | 
| Asthma control | Asthma control assessed by the Asthma Control Test | 6 months | 
| Asthma control | Asthma control assessed by the Asthma Control Test | 12 months | 
| Quality of life measured by the Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire | Quality of life measured by the Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire | Baseline | 
| Quality of life measured by the Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire | Quality of life measured by the Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire | 3 months | 
| Quality of life measured by the Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire | Quality of life measured by the Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire | 12 months | 
| Health care resource utilization | Asthma-related hospital admissions and emergency department visits | 12 months | 
| Use of reliever medication for acute asthma attacks | Use of reliever medication for acute asthma attacks | 12 months | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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asthma, mHealth, cluster randomized controlled trial, pharmacy practice, pharmacist