Feasibility Study Of M-Health Transition Care Program For Traumatic Brain Injury Caregivers

Abstract

Background: Caring in discharge transition for patients with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) has impacted caregivers. MHealth has become popular for communication between a patient/caregiver and a health profession integrated into numerous public well-being programs in low-middle income countries but is limited for TBI caregivers. Purpose: This study aims to assess the feasibility of the mHealth supportive care transition program based on transitional care theory for improving discharge readiness and reducing caregivers' transition stress and burden of caregiving and the patient's readmission rate. Methods: Seven family caregivers who met inclusion criteria were recruited. The mHealth supportive care transition program includes education and face-to-face information assisted by an android-based application, skill demonstration, assessment of the readiness of hospital discharge, and weekly monitoring and follow-up after the patient's discharge is given. The outcomes were evaluated using a validated and standardized scale designed to measure transition stress and the burden of caregiving at the baseline, two weeks, and one-month post-discharge, including the patient's readmission one month (within 28 days) after discharge. Feedback through the mHealth satisfaction questionnaire on the trial feasibility was also collected. Results: The initial findings showed that all subjects experienced a decrease of stress transition and caregiver burden at two weeks and one-month post-discharge follow-up. High satisfaction scores on mHealth were also reported and no patient was readmitted within 28 days. Conclusion: This feasibility study showed the mHealth supportive care transition program is feasible for implementation, but it is required to test the effectiveness in the next phase on RCT with a larger sample size.