Overcoming Barriers to Accessing Genetic Medicine

Sponsor

Boston Children's Hospital (Other)

Overall Status

Not yet recruiting

CT.gov ID

NCT05064241

Collaborator

National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) (NIH)

Enrollment

Arms

Anticipated Duration (Months)

Study Details

Study Description

Brief Summary

To learn about patient barriers to accessing genetic medicine, we will analyze anonymous posts from a membership-based online community [Inspire.com], and investigate how these barriers differ for various populations. We will then test whether these barriers can be addressed by providing online access to a genetic counselor to answer patient questions for one group of patients (virtual advisory board group) and compare to that of a control group who does not have access to a genetic counselor (virtual peer-to-peer board group).

Condition or Disease	Intervention/Treatment	Phase
Genetic Disease Genetic Predisposition	Other: Access to Genetic Counselor for answering questions	N/A

Detailed Description

Genomic medicine has the potential to advance diagnoses, predict risk, support prevention efforts, and inform treatment decision-making. Though technologies for measuring genetic variants have improved and become more cost-effective, clinical integration of genomic medicine has been surprisingly slow. For genomic medicine to be successfully implemented across specialties and across demographics, the systemic barriers that patients experience need to be identified and addressed.

Online health support is becoming an increasingly important part of healthcare as more patients use digital health networks. In the first part of this study, an analysis of online communication in a membership-based online support community [Inspire.com] will identify systemic, structural and individual barriers to accessing genomic medicine. A genetic counselor will be informed to these results and will be part of the intervention arm of the study.

To assess the extent to which online health networks can directly help genomic medicine implementation, participants will join one of two Virtual Discussion Boards (a Virtual Advisory Board and a Virtual Peer-to-Peer Discussion Board). In the intervention arm, the Virtual Advisory Board will have a genetic counselor answer patient questions online about genomic medicine once every week for a period of three months. In the control arm, participants will answer and comment on each others' questions in the Virtual Peer-to-Peer Discussion Board. We hypothesize that after six months, patients who participate in the Virtual Advisory Board are more likely to self-report receiving genomic medicine than those in the control arm. After completion of the study, participants in the Peer-to-Peer Discussion Board, we will give online access to the genetic counselor to answer any questions

Study Design

Study Type:

Interventional

Anticipated Enrollment :

70 participants

Allocation:

Randomized

Intervention Model:

Parallel Assignment

Intervention Model Description:

One group has access to a genetic counselor answering their questions, another group has peer-to-peer conversation. However, at the end of the study, the genetic counselor will answer the questions asked in the peer-to-peer discussion board.One group has access to a genetic counselor answering their questions, another group has peer-to-peer conversation. However, at the end of the study, the genetic counselor will answer the questions asked in the peer-to-peer discussion board.

Masking:

Single (Participant)

Masking Description:

Participants will not be told which discussion board they are randomized to. However, they may possibly discover that one board has a genetic counselor, and the other does not.

Primary Purpose:

Health Services Research

Official Title:

Investigations of Barriers and Methods to Overcome Barriers to Access Genetic Medicine

Anticipated Study Start Date :

Oct 1, 2022

Anticipated Primary Completion Date :

Sep 30, 2023

Anticipated Study Completion Date :

Sep 30, 2024

Arms and Interventions

Arm	Intervention/Treatment
Experimental: Virtual Advisory Board Participants have access to a genetic counselor to answer their questions on accessing genetic medicine.	Other: Access to Genetic Counselor for answering questions A genetic counselor answers questions posed by participants in the intervention arm on how to access genetic medicine. At the end of the study, the number of participants who were able to access genetic medicine will be assessed
No Intervention: Virtual Peer-to-Peer Discussion Board Participants answer each others' questions on the topic of accessing genetic medicine.

Arm

Intervention/Treatment

Experimental: Virtual Advisory Board

Participants have access to a genetic counselor to answer their questions on accessing genetic medicine.

Other: Access to Genetic Counselor for answering questions

A genetic counselor answers questions posed by participants in the intervention arm on how to access genetic medicine. At the end of the study, the number of participants who were able to access genetic medicine will be assessed

No Intervention: Virtual Peer-to-Peer Discussion Board

Participants answer each others' questions on the topic of accessing genetic medicine.

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

Qualitative self-report of referrals for clinical genetic services [6 months]
Percentage of participants with self-report of referrals for clinical genetic services

Secondary Outcome Measures

Qualitative self-report of specific barriers to the participant accessing genomic medicine [6 months]
The ability for a participant to articulate the barriers to them accessing genetic medicine
Self-report of specific behaviors to overcome barriers to accessing genetic medicine [6 months]
Qualitative assessment of ability for a participant to self-report performing behaviors to overcome barriers to accessing genetic medicine.

Eligibility Criteria

Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study:

18 Years and Older

Sexes Eligible for Study:

All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers:

Inclusion Criteria:

Member of Inspire.com Genetic disease Genetic predisposition to disease -

Exclusion Criteria:

Not member of Inspire.com No genetic disease No genetic predisposition to disease

Contacts and Locations

Locations

No locations specified.

Sponsors and Collaborators

Boston Children's Hospital
National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)

Investigators

None specified.

Study Documents (Full-Text)

None provided.

More Information

Publications

None provided.

Responsible Party:

Catherine Brownstein, Assistant Professor, Boston Children's Hospital

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:

NCT05064241

Other Study ID Numbers:

P00039779

First Posted:

Oct 1, 2021

Last Update Posted:

Jun 13, 2022

Last Verified:

Jun 1, 2022

Individual Participant Data (IPD) Sharing Statement:

Plan to Share IPD:

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Drug Product:

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Device Product:

Additional relevant MeSH terms:

Genetic Diseases, Inborn

Disease Susceptibility

Genetic Predisposition to Disease

Study Results

No Results Posted as of Jun 13, 2022