Digital Literacy Intervention to Address Support, Literacy and Communication in Older Adults

NCT06479707 | Active Not Recruiting

• 2 other identifiers: IRB00437921P30AG021334-21
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 20
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The investigators propose a person-directed, values-based digital literacy intervention to address the community-identified barriers of health literacy, health communication and social support to improve quality of life and specific disease related metrics in the older adult's own home. This intervention will be a way to address the community-identified barriers of health literacy, health communication and social support to improve quality of life and specific disease related metrics in the older adult's own home.

Conditions

Quality of Life; Aging; Technology; Literacy

Keywords

Literacy; Digital; Intervention; Older Adults; Technology

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (9)

• Change in Health Team Communication as assessed by the CollaboRATE Scale Measure

  The CollaboRATE scale measure is a 3 item self-report questionnaire on patient's shared decision making. It is scored on a 10-point anchored scale, ranging from 0 ("no effort was made") to 9 ("every effort was made"). Higher scores indicate more shared decision making.

  Baseline, 9 weeks

• Change in self-efficacy as assessed by the Coping Self-Efficacy Instrument

  Coping Self-Efficacy is a 13 item instrument on a scale of 0 ('can't do at all') to 10 ('certain can do'). A higher score indicates higher level of self-efficacy when implementing coping strategies. Score range 0-130.

  Baseline, 9 weeks

• Change in self-efficacy as assessed by the Self-Efficacy of Chronic Disease Management Instrument

  Self-Efficacy of Chronic Disease Management Instrument is a 6 item instrument on a visual analog scale, ranging from 1 (not at all confident) to 10 (totally confident). Lower scores indicate lower self-efficacy as indicated by confidence. Score range 6-60.

  Baseline, 9 weeks

• Change in Social engagement as assessed by the Lubben Social Network Scale

  The Lubben Social Network Scale is a 7-item questionnaire that measures the size of social networks of family and friends. The score ranges between 0 and 30, with higher scores indicated more social engagement.

  Baseline, 9 weeks

• Change in Social engagement as assessed by the Krause-Borawski-Clark Support Interactions Scale

  The Krause-Borawski-Clark Support Interactions Scale is a 10-item self-reported questionnaire that measures social interactions. The scale is broken down into different domains; scores range from very often (4); fairly often (3); once in a while (2); never (1) or binary-- satisfied (1) or not satisfied (0) depending on domain within the questionnaire. Items are summed to form a single composite score range 10-40, Higher scores on the scale is associated with better personal perception and social support.

  Baseline, 9 weeks

• Change in quality of life as assessed by the European Quality of Life (Euro-QOL-5D)

  The Euro-QOL-5D is a self-report measure that measures quality of life across 5 domains: mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort, and anxiety/depression. Response choices are severe, moderate or none (levels of disability) across domains. Questionnaire also includes a Visual Analog Scale, where respondents report their perceived health status ranging from 0 (the worst possible health status) to 100 (the best possible health status).

  Baseline, 9 weeks

• Change in health literacy as assessed by the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (REALM)

  The REALM screening tool assesses ability for respondent to correctly pronounce a list of common medical words and lay terms using the REALM Patient Word List. A score of 0-18 is 3rd grade and below, score of 19-44 is 4th to 6th grade, score of 45-60 is 7th to 8th grade, and a score of 61-66 is high school or above.

  Baseline, 9 weeks

• Change in digital health literacy as assessed by the Digital Health Care Literacy Scale

  The Digital Health Care Literacy scale is a 3-item questionnaire. Response options ranged from strongly disagree (0 points) to strongly agree (4 points). Total possible score options ranged from 0-12. Higher scores indicated higher digital health care literacy.

  Baseline, 9 weeks

• Change in digital health literacy as assessed by the Mobile Device Proficiency Questionnaire (MDPQ)

  The MDPQ is a 16-item questionnaire divided into 8 sub-scales. All items are on a 5-point scale with choices never tried (1), not at all (2), not very easily (3), somewhat easily (4), and to very easily (5). A low score indicates low mobile device proficiency.

  Baseline, 9 weeks

Secondary Outcomes (5)

• Change in Function as assessed by Lawton & Brody's assessment of Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale

  Baseline, 9 weeks

• Change in Function as assessed by the Katz Index of Independence in Activities of Daily Living

  Baseline, 9 weeks

• Change in Pain as assessed by the Brief Pain Inventory

  Baseline, 9 weeks

• Change in Depression as assessed by the Patient Health Questionnaire Depression Scale (PHQ-2)

  Baseline, 9 weeks

• Change in Frailty as assessed by the Fried Frailty Phenotype

  Baseline, 9 weeks

Other Outcomes (8)

• Acceptability at endpoint of intervention assessed by survey

  9 weeks

• Feasibility as assessed by qualitative questions

  9 weeks

• Feasibility as assessed by recruitment rate

  9 weeks

Study Arms (1)

Pilot

OTHER

Behavioral: Digital Literacy Intervention

Interventions

Digital Literacy Intervention BEHAVIORAL

This intervention consists of 4-6 home visits with 3-4 interim phone calls based on the participant's individual digital literacy needs and goals. Each participant will receive internet connectivity (if not already available), a tablet (if not already available) and tailored action plans co-developed by the participant and the interventionist.

Pilot

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 65 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Aged 65 years old or older
• English proficient
• Willingness to improve digital literacy

You may not qualify if:

• Severe cognitive impairment as defined by a 6-item Callahan Cognitive Screener
• Hospitalization overnight more than 3 times in the last 12 months by self-report.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Johns Hopkins University: lead
• National Institute on Aging (NIA): collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Johns Hopkins School of Nursing

Baltimore, Maryland, 21205, United States

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Literacy

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Communication; Behavior

Study Officials

• Melissa Hladek, PhD

  Johns Hopkins School of Nursing

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NA
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: SUPPORTIVE CARE
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: June 13, 2024
• First Posted: June 28, 2024
• Study Start: November 7, 2024
• Primary Completion: May 1, 2026
• Study Completion: May 1, 2026
• Last Updated: March 17, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-03

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)