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NCT Number: NCT05995574

Avatar Contraception Communication Training

In order to support the desire of most adolescents to delay pregnancy (parenting) until their own adulthood, pediatricians must be comfortable and skilled in having reproductive health conversations with adolescents and the mothers of adolescents. Advocates for Youth (AFY), a national, youth-facing, well-established, non-profit, is known for innovative sexual and reproductive health programs. AFY successfully implemented a virtual simulation for schoolteachers to practice sex education scenarios by interacting with culturally diverse student avatars. We will partner with AFY to adapt their novel simulation-based approach to train medical residents in using SDM with youth and parent avatars. Our long-term goal is to build clinician confidence in SDM and actual skills via simulation training with dyadic avatars. We will also explore how evaluation of clinician communication skills varies from youth-, parent-, and clinician-viewpoints.

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Key information

Conditions

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Childrens Health Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine (AYA) Clinic, Dallas, Texas, United States

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About this study

Specific Aims seek to (1) iteratively adapt and refine the simulation training (1a) and measurement tools (1b) with three community advisory boards (CAB) of separate groups of teens, parents, and clinicians; and (2) conduct a proof-of-concept pre-post evaluation of clinician confidence in counseling dyads after one-time exposure to the simulation (n=100 medical residents). We will record residents' communications in the simulation and a subset of clinicians, parents, and adolescents from each CAB will evaluate residents' SDM skills via the Person-Centered Contraception Counseling (PCCC) scale. Hypothesis: Most medical residents (75%) will self-report improvement or stability in confidence with high acceptability of the simulation training. We will explore 1) overall concordance between self- and expert-reported evaluation outcomes (SDM skills, PCCC scale); 2) compare the distribution of each evaluation item by evaluator; and 3) explore correlations between scales by evaluator. Impact: This proof-of-concept study, co-developed and co-evaluated with community members and families, fills a gap in communication training to inform a future fully powered ORBIT stage 3 efficacy trial to test actual triadic communication in the real-world with comparator groups of medical residents across national training programs.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

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

Inclusion criteria

(providers):

  • Providers (medical residents, fellows, attendings)
  • Recruited from the Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Medicine Clinic at Children's Medical Center of Dallas.

Exclusion criteria

  • Unable to speak or read in Spanish/English

Treatment and study plan

avatar communication training

Behavioral

Avatar simulates a mother and a daughter for the pediatrician to practice communication about contraception.

Primary outcomes

  1. Questionnaire

    Time frame: Change from baseline (T0) at 0 hours, and end of training (T2) at 2 hours

    Multiple questions will be aggregated to arrive at one reported value to determine "improvement or stability in confidence" in shared decision-making communication.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Acceptability Questionnaire

    Time frame: At end of study (T2) at 2-hours

    Weiners implementation outcome measure Acceptability of Intervention Measure (AIM). Items are measured on a 5-point Likert scale (Completely Disagree-Completely Agree). Score is calculated mean with the higher score meaning acceptability.

  2. Questionnaire

    Time frame: Change from start (T1) at 20 minute to end of training (T2) at 2 hours

    Self-reported evaluation of a behavioral outcome (SDM (shared decision-making) skills and PCCC (person-centered contraception counseling) from start (T1) to end of training (T2)

  3. Questionnaire

    Time frame: Change from start (T1) at 20 minute to end of training (T2) at 2 hours

    Expert evaluation of behavioral outcome (SDM (shared decision-making) skills and PCCC (person-centered contraception counseling) from start (T1) to end of training (T2)

Study contacts

Contact information is provided by the study sponsor or research team.

Jenny KR Francis, MD, MPH

CONTACT

[email protected]

214-456-6792

Jenny KR Francis, MD, MPH

CONTACT

[email protected]

214-456-6792

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

Other

Registry information

Official study title

Improving Clinician Communication About Contraception Using Teen and Parent Avatars

Important dates

Study start
2026
Primary completion
2030
Study completion
2030
First posted
Aug 16, 2023
Registry last updated
Sep 3, 2025

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

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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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