A clinical trial sponsored by the University of California Los Angeles is studying whether smartphones can be used help children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The study will look at whether it is feasible and acceptable for parents to receive reminders for clinic visits and ADHD medications and then enter daily ratings of their child’s ADHD symptoms and possible medication side effects into a smartphone.
The study will also examine whether it is feasible and acceptable for doctors to use the information summarized on a tablet screen during a medication follow-up visit. If the parent gives their consent, the study will examine whether it is feasible and acceptable for the child’s teacher to enter their ratings of ADHD symptoms twice a week via a link on their email. This information would also be included in the doctor’s iPad screen.
If this use of technology is found to be promising, then a larger study will be done to examine if medication treatment is safer, more consistent, and more effective using this technology as compared to usual care.
Children five to 12 years are eligible to enroll in the study. To be accepted, the children must have a clinical diagnosis of ADHD, be a patient at the Augustus Hawkins Mental Health Center in Los Angeles to treat their ADHD, and receive stimulant medication for the first time.
There will be 12 parent/child groups consisting of two people, plus 6 clinicians, and up to 12 teachers will be enrolled. Each parent/child group will be videotaped for up to 3 visits while visiting clinicians in videotaped sessions.
The study time period includes the first visit when ADHD medication is prescribed to the third follow-up medication visit. It is anticipated that follow-up visits will be every 1-2 weeks during the early phase of medication treatment. The time period expected for each parent/child group will be between four to eight weeks.
The clinical trial is titled “Leveraging Mobile Technology to Optimize Early Stimulant Medication Treatment: A Feasibility Pilot” (NCT01990222). Principal Investigator Bonnie Zima MD is the Associate Director of the Jane and Terry Semel Institute’s Health Services Research Center and Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
For more information email Bonnie Zima MD at bzima@mednet.ucla.edu.