Digital Avatars for Psychosocial and Integrative Health Support of Veterans with Spinal Cord Injury and Disorders
Abstract
Objectives & Rationale The Spinal Cord Injury Disease Management Protocol (SCI DMP) was developed by the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to address the unique needs of patients living with SCI and was validated to improve health and quality of life. However, engagement was low, and the average patient was withdrawn from the DMP after only 116 days. Some patients with SCI had hand impairments, leading to negative opinions about ease of use of the technology delivering the DMP. Patients also reported tedious and repetitively administered SCI DMP content items. To resolve these issues, our team will apply a digital "avatar" that can build social relationships with SCI patients by talking with them day-to-day, and that can build the SCI DMP into these verbal conversations. This way, we will (1) increase engagement by building on a fun, social relationship, (2) avoid the need to use hands, which may be impaired in function, (3) deliver other health and quality of life benefits that come from the social relationship, and (4) reduce the patient s dependence on scarce VA personnel. We have previously validated the avatar across various healthcare settings both in hospitals and in patients homes, and we propose a planning project to prepare for a future clinical study that will validate the avatar s ability to achieve the above goals for veterans with SCI. Tasks to be Accomplished To enable the future clinical study, we will work with the James J. Peters VA Medical Center to accomplish these tasks during the planning project: 1. Prepare the team and administrative requirements. Complete the research team, prepare documentation required for organizational approvals, and develop training for staff. 2. Develop avatar protocols using the SCI and related DMPs that often apply to veterans with SCI. Adapt SCI, diabetes, hypertension, and depression DMPs into the avatar system, including additional exercise, rehabilitation, relaxation, and other activities. 3. Develop the research plan and statistical design. Develop a data analysis and statistical plan and determine patient recruiting and other protocols. A preliminary plan for how to proceed to actually conduct the clinical study will be drafted. Applicability of the Future Clinical Study The future clinical study will seek to improve the health and well-being of individuals living with SCI, including not only veterans, but also their family members and caregivers. The primary risk of participation is that the patient could build a strong relationship with their avatar and then need to give up that relationship at the end of the study. However, the potential benefits are far greater, including reduced likelihood of developing life-threatening pressure ulcers, improved perception of social support, reduced anxiety and depression, and other aspects of improved wellness. The study planning project should be complete by June 30, 2019. We anticipate that the actual clinical study could be generating positive, reportable outcomes as early as the first quarter of 2020. Additionally, the avatar platform that we will validate is highly flexible in the delivery of fun, socially-based interventions and DMPs, and in the long-term, it will be valuable for patients with other health conditions and in various care environments. It will also be a valuable research tool for these other applications.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Oct 29, 2018
- Source ID
- W81XWH1810634
Entities
People
- Victor Wang
Organizations
- United States Army