Timmers T, Janssen L, Pronk Y, van der Zwaard BC, Koëter S, van Oostveen D, de Boer S, Kremers K, Rutten S, Das D, van Geenen RC, Koenraadt KL, Kusters R, van der Weegen W. Assessing the Efficacy of an Educational Smartphone or Tablet App With Subdivided and Interactive Content to Increase Patients' Medical Knowledge: Randomized Controlled Trial.
JMIR Mhealth Uhealth 2018;
6:e10742. [PMID:
30578185 PMCID:
PMC6320423 DOI:
10.2196/10742]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2018] [Revised: 10/15/2018] [Accepted: 10/17/2018] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Background
Modern health care focuses on shared decision making (SDM) because of its positive effects on patient satisfaction, therapy compliance, and outcomes. Patients’ knowledge about their illness and available treatment options, gained through medical education, is one of the key drivers for SDM. Current patient education relies heavily on medical consultation and is known to be ineffective.
Objective
This study aimed to determine whether providing patients with information in a subdivided, categorized, and interactive manner via an educational app for smartphone or tablet might increase the knowledge of their illness.
Methods
A surgeon-blinded randomized controlled trial was conducted with 213 patients who were referred to 1 of the 6 Dutch hospitals by their general practitioner owing to knee complaints that were indicative of knee osteoarthritis. An interactive app that, in addition to standard care, actively sends informative and pertinent content to patients about their illness on a daily basis by means of push notifications in the week before their consultation. The primary outcome was the level of perceived and actual knowledge that patients had about their knee complaints and the relevant treatment options after the intervention.
Results
In total, 122 patients were enrolled in the control group and 91 in the intervention group. After the intervention, the level of actual knowledge (measured on a 0-36 scale) was 52% higher in the app group (26.4 vs 17.4, P<.001). Moreover, within the app group, the level of perceived knowledge (measured on a 0-25 scale) increased by 22% during the week within the app group (from 13.5 to 16.5, P<.001), compared with no gain in the control group.
Conclusions
Actively offering patients information in a subdivided (per day), categorized (per theme), and interactive (video and quiz questions) manner significantly increases the level of perceived knowledge and demonstrates a higher level of actual knowledge, compared with standard care educational practices.
Trial Registration
International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number ISRCTN98629372; http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN98629372 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/73F5trZbb)
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