Georgia: Technology and WIC - A Comprehensive Approach to Public Health

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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With funding through USDA and Tufts University's Telehealth Intervention Strategies for WIC (THIS-WIC) project, the Georgia WIC department will be implementing a telehealth solution for nutrition and breastfeeding support. The purpose of this study is to evaluate this telehealth solution. The research/evaluation involves completing online surveys. The evaluation will focus on participant satisfaction, usage of the telehealth solution, and use of information collected on the WIC participant through the WIC management information system (MIS). It is hypothesized that the telehealth solution will increase WIC participant's satisfaction with nutrition and breastfeeding support while also reducing the burden of attending in-person care.

Detailed Description
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Telehealth can reduce barriers and increase access to care, and it can be applied to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). WIC is a federal nutrition assistance program that helps low-income women with children up to age 5. There is a large volume of research that supports remote patient monitoring, and the most benefits are found when telehealth is used for communication and counseling. The USDA awarded Tufts University a grant to test and evaluate the use of telehealth innovations in the delivery of USDA's WIC program. Tufts University then offered the USDA/Tufts Telehealth Intervention Strategies for WIC (THIS-WIC) grant opportunity to WIC state agencies across the US. THIS-WIC selected 7 WIC State Agencies to receive grants, and the GA state agency is one recipient. The THIS-WIC team at Tufts University is leading the evaluation of these telehealth solutions in collaboration with funded WIC State Agencies. THIS-WIC aims to generate evidence from GA's video-conferencing telehealth solution to inform how the telehealth platform supports WIC services compared to usual in-person care. Evaluation findings will inform stakeholders about the platform's benefits and how viable it is to sustain and adapt more widely. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of this telehealth solution by having clients complete surveys on their comfortability using telehealth and their satisfaction with the telehealth appointment. Additionally, secondary demographic and other nutrition-related information about study participants is already collected in the MIS and will be utilized.

Official Title
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Georgia: Technology and WIC - A Comprehensive Approach to Public Health

Conditions
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Telehealth, Nutrition Education, Breast Feeding, Dietary Intake, WIC

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Telehealth solution: video conferencing


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Pregnant women Breastfeeding women postpartum women with children in the age range of 0 to 5 years Exclusion Criteria: -

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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Female

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Other
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Interventional Model Description: Study participants will be clients at local WIC agency sites where either the telehealth solution is offered or where only usual care is available (control).
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Telehealth solution<br>Telehealth solution offered. | Behavioral: Telehealth solution: video conferencing<br>* Telehealth solution: video conferencing<br>|
| No Intervention: Control<br>Usual care. | |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Satisfaction with the telehealth solution | WIC clients satisfaction with nutrition education and breastfeeding support offered via the telehealth solution compared to usual care. Data will be collected, and this outcome measure will be assessed via survey completion by study participants. | During the study period, approximately 18 months | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Breastfeeding duration | Duration of breastfeeding in clients offered the telehealth solution compared to usual care. Data will be collected, and this outcome measure will be assessed via survey completion by study participants | During the study period, approximately 18 months | 
| Attendance at scheduled appointments | WIC clients attendance at appointments when offered the telehealth solution compared to usual care. Data will be collected, and this outcome measure will be assessed via survey completion by study participants. | During the study period, approximately 18 months | 
| Dietary intake | Impact of the telehealth solution compared to usual care on dietary intake. Data will be collected, and this outcome measure will be assessed via survey completion by study participants. | During the study period, approximately 18 months | 
| Attitudes to breastfeeding and nutrition education | Impact of the telehealth solution compared to usual care on WIC clients' attitudes to breastfeeding and nutrition education. Data will be collected, and this outcome measure will be assessed via survey completion by study participants. | During the study period, approximately 18 months | 
| Barriers encountered in obtaining nutrition education and breastfeeding support | Impact of the telehealth solution compared to usual care on barriers encountered by WIC clients in obtaining nutrition education and breastfeeding support. Data will be collected, and this outcome measure will be assessed via survey completion by study participants. | During the study period, approximately 18 months | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Telehealth, WIC, nutrition education, breast feeding, dietary intake