Cincinnati Children's Hospital
Background: Asthma education is an important component of asthma management and control. With the COVID-19 pandemic, standard asthma education was affected by a transition to telehealth visits, preventing hands-on education experiences for pediatric patients and their caregivers.
Aims: The goal of this study was to evaluate the effects and utility of the CHANGE-Asthma app, an educational bundle of augmented reality-based smart games, educational videos, and an asthma action plan, on caregivers of pediatric patients with asthma who have been seen in subspecialty telehealth clinics.
Methods: This was an explanatory, sequential mixed methods study. Quantitative data consisted of a childhood Asthma Control Test (cACT), a knowledge assessment, and time spent within the app. Qualitative data consisted of semi-structured interviews and evaluation by thematic analysis to develop recurring themes related to their experience.
Results: There was no statistically significant change in the cACT or knowledge assessment scores when evaluating pre- and post-intervention scores. Time spent within the app significantly decreased after the first week; the mean total time spent within the app was 8.6 minutes over an average of 14 weeks (range 9-19 weeks). Several themes regarding the app developed from thematic analysis: usability, real-world application, who might benefit the most, saturation of knowledge, response to augmented reality, and novel ideas for future iterations. Caregivers stated how they utilized augmented reality as deliberate practice to improve their skills.
Conclusion: With this mixed methods approach, we evaluated caregivers’ real-world usage of a mobile health app and obtained personal insight into the utility of novel technologies for patient education.
