Supplying Useful Perimenopause Through Post-menopause Online Resources and Tools
Supplying Useful Perimenopause Through Post-menopause Online Resources and Tools
The goal of the study is to examine the extent to which exposure to the SUPPORT prototype increases community health workers' (CHWs) knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy to conduct effective outreach to minority women experiencing the menopausal transition. The investigators will collect quantitative, pretest and posttest survey data from adult CHWs.
The investigators will use a randomized, two-group, pretest/posttest design to develop and evaluate the Supplying Useful Perimenopause through Post-menopause Online Resources and Tools (SUPPORT) course and explore the following research question: To what extent does exposure to the SUPPORT prototype increase community health workers' (CHWs) knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy to conduct mental health outreach to minority women experiencing the menopausal transition?
The SUPPORT prototype will have four lessons with text, video vignettes, handouts, and artificial intelligence (AI) avatar simulations. CHWs assigned to the treatment group will be exposed to SUPPORT prototype before completing the posttest while CHWs assigned to the control group will be exposed to the SUPPORT prototype after completing the posttest.
Researchers worked with subject matter experts and the intended audience to ensure the SUPPORT course includes accurate material and reflects the specific needs of CHWs providing outreach to women experiencing the menopausal transition.
Co-Principal Investigators Morgan Fleming (KDH Research & Communication), with input from Co-PI Mary Dolan (Emory University) and the subject matter experts, developed necessary research materials, including the recruitment protocols, evaluation instrumentation, and human subjects consent materials. Co-PI Fleming also outlined the appropriate statistical analysis methods. All procedure documents will be reviewed by the KDH Research & Communication (KDHRC) Institutional Review Board before the evaluation launch.
Investigators will recruit participants by sharing the opportunity through the KDHRC CHW panel, which notifies more than 700 subscribed CHWs about research opportunities. Notifications and flyers will provide information about the goal of the study, participant eligibility, and a link to an eligibility form. Once a potential participant completes the eligibility form and s/he is eligible for the study, they will receive a link to a consent form located on a secure online platform.
The study will include up to 160 CHWs nationwide (80 treatment group, 80 control group). KDHRC will remind participants that participation in the study is completely voluntary.
Investigators will confirm consent for each participant and after confirming consent, will send participants the link to complete the pretest survey. Once the investigators receive the pretest survey, they will randomize each participant into the treatment group or control group using a 1:1 randomization. Investigators will alternate assigning each participant with completed pretest to the treatment groups or the control groups. Then, investigators will provide each participant with group-specific information. Participant responses to pretest and posttest survey measures will be linked using non-personal identifiers.
The investigators will download and export the data from the online survey platform into encrypted Excel files and import the raw data into STATA. The investigators will match the pretest and posttest using the non-personal identifiers and conduct analyses to test for the effect of SUPPORT course exposure on changes in CHWs' knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy.
The initial evaluation criterion is: Statistically significant (p<0.05) and positive relationship between exposure to SUPPORT course and increased knowledge among the treatment group in comparison to the control group.
Inclusion Criteria:
Exclusion Criteria: