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Completed

NCT Number: NCT04969289

A Trial of an Adolescent Male Sexual Health Intervention

Early unintended fatherhood and rates of sexually transmitted infections remain national concerns, disproportionately affecting minority, underserved adolescent males, many of whom frequently use emergency departments (EDs) for medical care. EDs must implement effective sexual and reproductive health interventions that are evidence-based and reproducible. This research will conduct pilot testing of a personalized and interactive digital intervention specifically targeting adolescent males entitled Dr. Eric that is theory-based, user-informed, and scalable across EDs.

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Key information

Conditions

Contraception Behavior Behavior Reproductive Behavior

Age range

14 year–21 year

Sex eligibility

Male

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Columbia University Medical Center

New York, 10528, United States

About this study

Emergency Departments (EDs) care for 19 million adolescents each year, the majority of whom are low-income, racial and ethnic minorities, and participating in risky sexual behaviors. Despite a growing interest in expanding the role of the ED to provide preventive care, ED providers identify limited resources and time constraints as barriers to the implementation of public health interventions. Novel interventions are needed that fit efficiently within the ED workflow. The prior work of these investigators highlighted a significant public health problem-high risk sex among the adolescent male ED population. The investigators demonstrated that adolescent male ED patients are frequently having sex without condoms, increasing their risk of unintended early fatherhood and sexually transmitted infections (STI). These adolescents admit to low knowledge of effective contraceptive methods and having few discussions with medical providers and sexual partners about these methods. However, these male adolescents are receptive to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) interventions, particularly during the ED visit and via digital technology. They are particularly interested in interventions that feel relatable and are from a trustworthy source. To date, no intervention has successfully increased contraceptive use among this high risk, hard-to-reach ED population. Additionally, although evidence suggests that SRH digital interventions can improve SRH health, few interventions specifically target males. To improve adolescent SRH outcomes, the investigators have gathered an accomplished team with expertise in adolescent health, ED-based clinical trials, mobile health, and user-informed digital interventions. They created a novel intervention of an ED-based, theory-based, user-informed SRH digital intervention that includes a tailored educational app and 3 months of personalized and interactive text messaging. In this study, the investigators will conduct a pilot randomized controlled trial of Dr. Eric (Emergency Room Interventions to improve Care) to assess implementation outcomes and potential effectiveness. The investigators hypothesize that the Dr. Eric intervention will be feasible in the ED setting, be acceptable to adolescent males, demonstrate fidelity, and be adopted by users. The investigators also hypothesize that sexually active adolescent male ED patients who receive Dr. Eric will more often have consistent condom use than those who receive standard outpatient referral alone. These data will inform a subsequent multi-center clinical trial with sufficient power to measure clinically significant changes in consistent condom use. Ultimately, a digital ED-based intervention that is effective and automated can be utilized by other EDs as a reproducible and scalable means to promote sexual and reproductive preventive care, decrease unintended early fatherhood and STI risk among adolescent males, and improve adolescent health outcomes throughout the United States.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • ED male adolescent patients aged 14-21 years
  • sexually active (vaginal intercourse) with females in the past 3 months

Exclusion criteria

  • do not own a mobile phone
  • too ill per the attending
  • are cognitively impaired
  • does not speak English
  • want their partner to become pregnant in the next year

Treatment and study plan

Dr. Eric Digital Health Intervention

Behavioral

Dr. Eric is a user-informed, theory-based, digital health intervention that aims to improve adolescent male SRH. This ED-based intervention consists of two parts-an interactive, tailored app and 3 months of personalized, two-way text messaging. It is based on an evidence-based sexual health curriculum we developed using established behavioral theories, prior literature, input from key stakeholders, qualitative patient interviews, and our prior ED-based work.

Primary outcomes

  1. Number of Eligible Participants Who Agreed to be Enrolled in the Study

    Time frame: From day 1 of enrollment until the final day of enrollment (1 year)

    Implementation, feasibility: This outcome is designed to measure feasibility - the extent to which an innovation can be used in a setting. The investigators will measure the number of participants who are eligible, and agree to be enrolled into the study.

  2. Number of Participants That Are Lost to Follow up (at Each Time Point)

    Time frame: 6 and 13 weeks

    Implementation, feasibility: This outcome is to measure feasibility for both arms in which feasibility is defined as the extent to which an innovation can be used in a setting. The investigators will measure the number of participants in each arm that are lost to follow up in each respective arm at the 6 and 13 week time point. Lost to follow up means that we tried to contact the participant to assess outcome measures but they did not respond to texts or phone calls.

  3. Total Number of Participants Who Demonstrated Acceptability (Intervention Arm ONLY)

    Time frame: From day 1 of enrollment until the final day of enrollment (1 year)

    Implementation, acceptability: This outcome is to measure acceptability for the intervention group only. Acceptability is the extent to which the innovation is agreeable to a stakeholder. The investigators asked the Agree/Disagree question of "Dr. Eric meets my approval," as self-reported after app completion.

  4. The Number of Participants Who Interacted With All 5 Educational Modules (Intervention Arm ONLY)

    Time frame: From day 1 of enrollment until the final day of enrollment (1 year)

    Implementation, adoption: This outcome is for the intervention group only. Th investigators assessed adoption by measuring the number of intervention participants who interacted with all 5 educational modules, based off of data that is recorded by the app.

  5. Number of Participants Who Opt Out of the Texting Messaging Component of the Program (Intervention Arm ONLY)

    Time frame: 3 months

    Implementation, fidelity: This outcome is for the intervention group only. Fidelity is the extent to which an intervention is used as intended. This outcome measures the number of participants in the intervention group who opt out of the texting messaging component of the program.

  6. Percentage of Condom Use Among Participants

    Time frame: 3 months (or 13 weeks)

    Efficacy, Consistent Condom Use: This outcome is designed to measure efficacy and is a self-reported outcome and only includes participants who completed follow-up at 13 weeks. Percentages are calculated by dividing the total number of episodes of vaginal intercourse by the total number of times a male condom was used during vaginal intercourse over the past 4 weeks to report percentage of condom use within each arm.

  7. Percentage of Condom Use Among Participants

    Time frame: 6 weeks

    Efficacy, Consistent Condom Use: This outcome is designed to measure efficacy and is a self-reported outcome. This outcome only includes participants who completed follow-up at 6 weeks and were sexually active in the prior 4 weeks. The percentages are calculated by dividing the total number of episodes of vaginal intercourse by the total number of times a male condom was used during vaginal intercourse over the past 4 weeks to report percentages of condom use within each arm.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Number of Participants Who Had Intercourse Over the Past 4 Weeks

    Time frame: 3 month (13 weeks)

    Efficacy, Abstinent: This outcome is self-reported where participants are asked if they had penile-vaginal intercourse over the past 4 week. The binary outcome is measured from a "Yes" or "No" response.

  2. Number of Participants Who Talked to a Partner About Ways to Prevent Pregnancy Over the Past 3 Months

    Time frame: 3 month (13 weeks)

    Efficacy, Talked to a partner about ways to prevent pregnancy over the past 3 months: This outcome is based on self-reported responses on the follow-up survey in which the binary outcome is measured from a "Yes" or "No" response.

  3. Number of Participants Who Tested for a Sexually Transmitted Infection Over the Past 3 Months

    Time frame: 3 month (13 weeks)

    Efficacy, Tested for a sexually transmitted infection over the past 3 months: This outcome is based on self-reported responses on the follow-up survey, in which the binary outcome is measured from a "Yes" or "No" response.

  4. Number of Participants Who Tested for HIV Over the Past 3 Months

    Time frame: 3 month (13 weeks)

    Efficacy, Tested for HIV over the past 3 months: This outcome was based on self-reported responses on the follow-up survey in which the binary outcome is measured from a "Yes" or "No" response.

  5. Number of Participants Who Consistently Used Condoms at Every Intercourse

    Time frame: 3 months (or 13 weeks)

    Efficacy, Consistent Condom Use at Every Intercourse: This outcome is designed to measure efficacy, is a self-reported outcome and only includes participants who completed follow-up at 13 weeks. Answere are binary (yes/no) to using a condom at every intercourse over the past 3 months.

  6. Number of Participants Who Used a Condom at Last Intercourse

    Time frame: 3 months (or 13 weeks)

    Efficacy, Use a condom at last intercourse: This outcome is designed to measure efficacy, is a self-reported outcome and only includes participants who completed follow-up at 13 weeks and were sexually active. Answers are binary (yes/no) to the question if a condom was used at last intercourse.

  7. Number of Participants Who Used Any Contraceptive Method at Last Intercourse

    Time frame: 3 month (13 weeks)

    Efficacy, Used any method of contraception at last intercourse: This outcome is based on self-reported responses on the follow-up survey in which the binary outcome is measured from a "Yes" or "No" response.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Columbia University

Other

Collaborators

  • National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR)

Registry information

Official study title

A Digital Intervention to Improve the Sexual and Reproductive Health of Male Adolescent Emergency Department Patients

Acronym: DrEric

Important dates

Study start
2021
Primary completion
2022
Study completion
2022
First posted
Jul 20, 2021
Registry last updated
Jul 9, 2024

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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