THIS-WIC Vermont Breastfeeding Education Application Feasibility Study

Tufts University

Status: Completed

Conditions: WIC; Breast Feeding; Telehealth

Treatments: Behavioral: Telehealth solution

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; Other U.S. Federal agency

Identifiers

NCT05967234

IRB # 308

Details and patient eligibility

About

With funding through USDA and Tufts University's Telehealth Intervention Strategies for WIC (THIS-WIC) project, the Vermont WIC department will be conducting a feasibility study of a mobile telehealth solution for breastfeeding education. The purpose of this study is to evaluate this telehealth solution. The research/evaluation involves completing online surveys and interviews. The evaluation will focus on participant satisfaction, usage of the telehealth solution, and use of information collected on WIC participant through the WIC management information system (MIS) and the telehealth platform. It is hypothesized that the telehealth solution will increase WIC participant's satisfaction with breastfeeding education.

Full description

Telehealth can reduce barriers and increase access to care, and it can be applied to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). WIC is a federal nutrition assistance program that helps low-income women with children up to age 5. There is a large volume of research that supports remote patient monitoring, and the most benefits are found when telehealth is used for communication and counseling. The USDA awarded Tufts University a grant to test and evaluate the use of telehealth innovations in the delivery of USDA's WIC program. Tufts University then offered the USDA/Tufts Telehealth Intervention Strategies for WIC (THIS-WIC) grant opportunity to WIC state agencies across the US. THIS-WIC selected 7 WIC State Agencies to receive grants, and the Vermont state agency is one recipient. The THIS-WIC team at Tufts University is leading the evaluation of these telehealth solutions in collaboration with funded WIC State Agencies.

THIS-WIC aims to generate evidence from Vermont's telehealth solution to inform how the telehealth platform supports WIC services . Evaluation findings will inform stakeholders about the platform's benefits and how viable it is to sustain and adapt more widely.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of this telehealth solution by having clients complete surveys and interviews on their comfortability using telehealth and their satisfaction with the telehealth solution. Additionally, information about usage will be collected from the telehealth platform, and secondary demographic and other nutrition-related information about study participants is already collected in the MIS and will be utilized.

Enrollment: 116 patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Speaks and reads English (as the telehealth solution is available in English)
• Pregnant or postpartum
• Has access to a smart phone or smart device (e.g. iPad or tablet)

Exclusion criteria

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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116 participants in 1 patient group

Telehealth solution

Experimental group

Description:

Telehealth solution offered for breastfeeding education.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Telehealth solution