Jointstrong Intervention for Juvenile Arthritis

Sponsor
Michael Rapoff, Ph.D. (Other)
Overall Status
Completed
CT.gov ID
NCT01166750
Collaborator
(none)
35
1
2
25
1.4

Study Details

Study Description

Brief Summary

This study is a randomized wait-list controlled trial with repeated measures. There will be two groups: (1) standard medical care (wait-list control), and (2) standard medical care plus the adjunctive Jointstrong pain coping skills CD-ROM program (treatment). The study will have four phases: Pre-intervention Baseline (2 weeks); Intervention (4 weeks); immediate post-intervention follow up (2 weeks); and 12-week post-intervention follow up (2 weeks). The purpose of this study is to determine if using a CD-ROM program for juvenile arthritis can help children learn how to improve their symptoms on their own and reduce the frequency of symptoms.

Condition or Disease Intervention/Treatment Phase
  • Behavioral: CD-ROM
  • Behavioral: Wait-list Control Group
N/A

Detailed Description

If your child is eligible and decides to participate in this study, this participation will last approximately eight weeks. Please refer to the table at the end of this consent form.

Your child's participation in this study will involve the completion of daily questionnaires during a one-week baseline period and a one-week follow-up period. These questionnaires will contain various questions about your child's arthritis and his/her ability to do various activities. The questionnaires will take approximately 15-30 minutes each week to complete.

Your child will be randomly assigned to complete one of two CD-ROM programs. One of the CD-ROM programs is a "control" program that contains educational information about arthritis and medical treatments and the other is the "treatment" program and contains the same educational information as the control program plus information on behavioral strategies for controlling symptoms of arthritis. Your child's participation in this study will involve working through one of these CD-ROM programs over a one-month period. Your child will also continue to receive medical treatment from the rheumatologist treating your child for arthritis. The CD-ROM programs involve working through developmentally appropriate lessons on the nature of arthritis and how to treat it. The CD-ROM programs are divided into weekly "modules" and are designed to be completed within four weeks. Lessons take an average of 15 minutes to complete (plus "homework"), and there is an average of 4 lessons to complete each week.

Your participation in this study will involve the completion of questionnaires and helping your child understand any parts of the study that he or she does not understand.

Study Design

Study Type:
Interventional
Actual Enrollment :
35 participants
Allocation:
Randomized
Intervention Model:
Parallel Assignment
Masking:
None (Open Label)
Primary Purpose:
Treatment
Official Title:
Jointstrong Intervention for Juvenile Arthritis
Study Start Date :
Apr 1, 2009
Actual Primary Completion Date :
Mar 1, 2011
Actual Study Completion Date :
May 1, 2011

Arms and Interventions

Arm Intervention/Treatment
Experimental: CD-ROM-treatment

Behavioral: CD-ROM
Treatment Group will continue to follow their treating rheumatologist's recommendations and prescriptions. The program will contain information on the multiple components of pain (the "pain puzzle") as a treatment rationale and will then teach children to use cognitive-behavioral techniques for pain management. The information will be presented via visual displays, narration, and interactive menus. Children will be able to navigate through the different lessons at their own pace and will be required to take simple quizzes to assess their learning. Various passwords and homework assignments are embedded within the program to ensure that children are going through the material.

Active Comparator: Wait-list Control Group

Behavioral: Wait-list Control Group
Children in the control group will continue to follow recommendations and prescriptions by their treating rheumatologist. After an 8-week wait-list control condition that involves measurement phases identical to those of the Jointstrong Treatment Group but no Jointstrong treatment, the children in the control group will enter the Jointstrong program and will then have the same immediate post-treatment measures that the Treatment Group received. The Control Group will not, however, have the Treatment Group's 12-week follow-up phase.

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

  1. Pain [weekly for 12 weeks]

    Pain intensity on a 0 to 10 visual analog scale with 0 being no pain and 10 being worst possible pain.

Secondary Outcome Measures

  1. Mood and Stress [weekly for 12 weeks]

  2. Quality of Life [weekly for 12 weeks]

Eligibility Criteria

Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study:
8 Years to 12 Years
Sexes Eligible for Study:
All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
No

Inclusion Criteria. Patients recruited for this study will meet the following inclusion criteria: (a) are 8-12 years of age; (b) have a diagnosis of JA by a pediatric rheumatologist using established criteria, and (c) have JA-related (joint) pain occurring on an average of at least once per week by patient report [9]. Participants in the age range 8-12 years will be recruited because the intervention will be tailored to children (future studies will involve creating and testing a version of Jointstrong for adolescents). Although access to a home computer with a CD-ROM drive is required for the study, this will not be an inclusion criterion, and we expect the lack of access will be rare, as our pilot data on 37 children with headaches found that only 2% (1 child) did not have adequate home computer access [15]. So as not to exclude the few children without access who otherwise qualify for the study, we will lend laptop computers to these children. All children meeting symptom inclusion criteria will therefore be able to use the adjunctive CD-ROM programs in a home setting.

Exclusion Criteria. Patients will be excluded from the study if (a) their parents or rheumatologist report they have been diagnosed with a mental health condition or they are receiving concurrent psychotherapy; or (b) their 14-day baseline pain diaries indicate they have pain, on average, less than one day per week; or (c) they do not speak English.

Contacts and Locations

Locations

Site City State Country Postal Code
1 University Of Kansas Medical Center Kansas City Kansas United States 66160

Sponsors and Collaborators

  • Michael Rapoff, Ph.D.

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Michael Rapoff, Ph D, University of Kansas Medical Center

Study Documents (Full-Text)

None provided.

More Information

Publications

None provided.
Responsible Party:
Michael Rapoff, Ph.D., Professor, University of Kansas Medical Center
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
NCT01166750
Other Study ID Numbers:
  • 11154
First Posted:
Jul 21, 2010
Last Update Posted:
May 31, 2013
Last Verified:
May 1, 2013
Additional relevant MeSH terms:

Study Results

Participant Flow

Recruitment Details Dates of recruitment were from April 2009 to May 2011.
Pre-assignment Detail Twelve subjects were not randomized to groups, 2 due to infrequent pain, 2 moved or phone was disconnected, 6 would not return phone calls, and 2 dropped out as they were too busy.
Arm/Group Title CD-ROM-treatment Wait-list Control Group
Arm/Group Description CD-ROM : Treatment Group will continue to follow their treating rheumatologist's recommendations and prescriptions. The program will contain information on the multiple components of pain (the "pain puzzle") as a treatment rationale and will then teach children to use cognitive-behavioral techniques for pain management. The information will be presented via visual displays, narration, and interactive menus. Children will be able to navigate through the different lessons at their own pace and will be required to take simple quizzes to assess their learning. Various passwords and homework assignments are embedded within the program to ensure that children are going through the material. Wait-list Control Group : Children in the control group will continue to follow recommendations and prescriptions by their treating rheumatologist. After an 8-week wait-list control condition that involves measurement phases identical to those of the Jointstrong Treatment Group but no Jointstrong treatment, the children in the control group will enter the Jointstrong program and will then have the same immediate post-treatment measures that the Treatment Group received. The Control Group will not, however, have the Treatment Group's 12-week follow-up phase.
Period Title: Overall Study
STARTED 10 13
COMPLETED 9 13
NOT COMPLETED 1 0

Baseline Characteristics

Arm/Group Title CD-ROM-treatment Wait-list Control Group Total
Arm/Group Description CD-ROM : Treatment Group will continue to follow their treating rheumatologist's recommendations and prescriptions. The program will contain information on the multiple components of pain (the "pain puzzle") as a treatment rationale and will then teach children to use cognitive-behavioral techniques for pain management. The information will be presented via visual displays, narration, and interactive menus. Children will be able to navigate through the different lessons at their own pace and will be required to take simple quizzes to assess their learning. Various passwords and homework assignments are embedded within the program to ensure that children are going through the material. Wait-list Control Group : Children in the control group will continue to follow recommendations and prescriptions by their treating rheumatologist. After an 8-week wait-list control condition that involves measurement phases identical to those of the Jointstrong Treatment Group but no Jointstrong treatment, the children in the control group will enter the Jointstrong program and will then have the same immediate post-treatment measures that the Treatment Group received. The Control Group will not, however, have the Treatment Group's 12-week follow-up phase. Total of all reporting groups
Overall Participants 10 13 23
Age (Count of Participants)
<=18 years
10
100%
13
100%
23
100%
Between 18 and 65 years
0
0%
0
0%
0
0%
>=65 years
0
0%
0
0%
0
0%
Age (years) [Mean (Standard Deviation) ]
Mean (Standard Deviation) [years]
10.3
(1.2)
10.6
(1.6)
10.5
(1.4)
Sex: Female, Male (Count of Participants)
Female
9
90%
9
69.2%
18
78.3%
Male
1
10%
4
30.8%
5
21.7%
Region of Enrollment (participants) [Number]
United States
10
100%
13
100%
23
100%

Outcome Measures

1. Primary Outcome
Title Pain
Description Pain intensity on a 0 to 10 visual analog scale with 0 being no pain and 10 being worst possible pain.
Time Frame weekly for 12 weeks

Outcome Measure Data

Analysis Population Description
They were the ones still remaining at the end of the study.
Arm/Group Title CD-ROM Treatment Wait-List Control Group
Arm/Group Description Jointstrong
Measure Participants 9 13
Mean (Standard Deviation) [units on a scale]
4.3
(1.8)
5.7
(3.3)
2. Secondary Outcome
Title Mood and Stress
Description
Time Frame weekly for 12 weeks

Outcome Measure Data

Analysis Population Description
[Not Specified]
Arm/Group Title
Arm/Group Description
3. Secondary Outcome
Title Quality of Life
Description
Time Frame weekly for 12 weeks

Outcome Measure Data

Analysis Population Description
[Not Specified]
Arm/Group Title
Arm/Group Description

Adverse Events

Time Frame
Adverse Event Reporting Description
Arm/Group Title CD-ROM-treatment Wait-list Control Group
Arm/Group Description CD-ROM : Treatment Group will continue to follow their treating rheumatologist's recommendations and prescriptions. The program will contain information on the multiple components of pain (the "pain puzzle") as a treatment rationale and will then teach children to use cognitive-behavioral techniques for pain management. The information will be presented via visual displays, narration, and interactive menus. Children will be able to navigate through the different lessons at their own pace and will be required to take simple quizzes to assess their learning. Various passwords and homework assignments are embedded within the program to ensure that children are going through the material. Wait-list Control Group : Children in the control group will continue to follow recommendations and prescriptions by their treating rheumatologist. After an 8-week wait-list control condition that involves measurement phases identical to those of the Jointstrong Treatment Group but no Jointstrong treatment, the children in the control group will enter the Jointstrong program and will then have the same immediate post-treatment measures that the Treatment Group received. The Control Group will not, however, have the Treatment Group's 12-week follow-up phase.
All Cause Mortality
CD-ROM-treatment Wait-list Control Group
Affected / at Risk (%) # Events Affected / at Risk (%) # Events
Total / (NaN) / (NaN)
Serious Adverse Events
CD-ROM-treatment Wait-list Control Group
Affected / at Risk (%) # Events Affected / at Risk (%) # Events
Total 0/9 (0%) 0/13 (0%)
Other (Not Including Serious) Adverse Events
CD-ROM-treatment Wait-list Control Group
Affected / at Risk (%) # Events Affected / at Risk (%) # Events
Total 0/9 (0%) 0/13 (0%)

Limitations/Caveats

It was difficult to find subjects with pain resulting in significantly fewer subjects entered in the study.

More Information

Certain Agreements

All Principal Investigators ARE employed by the organization sponsoring the study.

There is NOT an agreement between Principal Investigators and the Sponsor (or its agents) that restricts the PI's rights to discuss or publish trial results after the trial is completed.

Results Point of Contact

Name/Title Michael A. Rapoff, PhD., Principal Investigator
Organization University of Kansas Medical Center
Phone 913-588-6323
Email mrapoff@kumc.edu
Responsible Party:
Michael Rapoff, Ph.D., Professor, University of Kansas Medical Center
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
NCT01166750
Other Study ID Numbers:
  • 11154
First Posted:
Jul 21, 2010
Last Update Posted:
May 31, 2013
Last Verified:
May 1, 2013