Development and usability of a feedback tool, "My Personal Brain Health Dashboard", to improve setting of self-management goals among people living with HIV in Canada

Effectiveness of a personalized health profile on specificity of self-management goals among people living with HIV in Canada: findings from a blinded pragmatic randomized controlled trial

PURPOSE

To estimate among people living with chronic HIV, to what extent providing feedback on their health outcomes will affect the number and specificity of patient-formulated self-management goals.

METHODS

A personalized feedback profile was produced for individuals enrolled in a Canadian HIV Brain Health Now study. Goal specificity was measured by total number of specific words (matched to a domain-specific developed lexicon) per person-words using text mining techniques.

RESULTS

Of 176 participants enrolled and randomly assigned to feedback and control groups, 110 responses were received. The average number of goals was similar for both groups (3.7 vs 3.9). The number of specific words used in the goals formulated by the feedback and control group were 642 and 739, respectively. Specific nouns and actionable verbs were present to some extent and "measurable" and "time-bound" words were mainly missing. Negative binomial regression showed no difference in goal specificity among groups (RR = 0.93, 95% CI 0.78-1.10). Goals set by both groups overlapped in 8 areas and had little difference in rank.

CONCLUSION

Personalized feedback profile did not help with formulation of high-quality goals. Text mining has the potential to help with difficulties of goal evaluation outside of the face-to-face setting. With more data and use of learning models automated answers could be generated to provide a more dynamic platform.

Development and usability of a feedback tool, "My Personal Brain Health Dashboard", to improve setting of self-management goals among people living with HIV in Canada

OBJECTIVE

(1) To develop a personalized health outcome profile as a feedback tool to improve self-management in people living with chronic conditions such as HIV and (2) to evaluate the interpretability and usefulness of the feedback tool for setting specific goals.

METHODS

The development of "My Personal Brain Health Dashboard" was inspired by the knowledge-to-action framework. A health outcome profile was computer generated in SAS from the outcome measures, at first and last recorded visits, of each person enrolled in the +BHN cohort from five sites in Canada. The Wilson-Cleary model framed the outcome measurement strategy. Single actionable items with evidence of life impact were chosen. The response option from the original item was the person's value and the optimal level was provided to help persons compare their results to an optimal target. Cognitive interviews were conducted with members of HIV community. Appropriateness of the Dashboard for goal-setting was tested by asking participants to write specific goals according to the Dashboard they were given.

RESULTS

Fifteen respondents were recruited from Montreal and Vancouver. Items most endorsed to be changed were cognition, pain, and body mass index. 80% found the Dashboard useful for setting health-related goals. A total of 85 goals were set, the text of which was mined to create a lexicon for scoring goal quality in future endeavours.

CONCLUSION

This study was the preparatory phase for a future trial on a method to stimulate setting specific goals. The future trial would provide a thorough understanding of the quality of person-defined goals.