Testing a New Mobile App to Help Parents Monitor and Improve Health of Children With Medical Complexity Ages 1 to 18

What this Trial Is About

Children with medical complexity CMC have multiple chronic health conditions affecting three or more organ systems, significant functional limitations, and reliance on medical technology. They experience frequent acute health problems leading to repeated emergency department visits and hospital admissions, which impact their quality of life and contribute to high healthcare costs. This research aims to evaluate a new mobile health mHealth app, MyChildCMC, designed to monitor early signs of health deterioration in CMC and help reduce hospital visits and admissions over a 12-month period. The study compares two groups of children aged 1 to 18 years and their parents one group uses the MyChildCMC app daily for six months to track symptoms and vital signs, receiving automated reminders, feedback, alerts, and connection to their healthcare providers the other group uses usual care with paper diaries to record similar health data. Both groups receive a sensor device to collect oxygen saturation, heart rate, and respiratory rate, along with financial incentives for participation during the first six months. After six months, incentives stop and participants are followed for an additional six months to assess continued app use and effects. Participants will be monitored through regular symptom and vital sign assessments, surveys measuring quality of life, caregiver stress, self-efficacy, and satisfaction, and tracking of emergency department visits and hospital admissions. The study will analyze if using MyChildCMC reduces healthcare use and improves outcomes for CMC and their families, including assessing effects on healthcare disparities among different racial, ethnic, and social groups. The total participation lasts approximately one year, with evaluations at multiple time points.

A Novel mHealth Intervention to Improve Outcomes of Children With Medical Complexity