A Digital Intervention to Promote Self-Management Self-Efficacy Among Community-Dwelling Individuals With Stroke: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Background Digital interventions provided through smartphones or the internet that are guided by a coach have been proposed as promising solutions to support the self-management of chronic conditions. However, digital intervention for poststroke self-management is limited; we developed the interactive Self-Management Augmented by Rehabilitation Technologies (iSMART) intervention to address this gap. Objective This study aimed to examine the feasibility and initial effects of the iSMART intervention to improve self-management self-efficacy in people with stroke. Methods A parallel, 2-arm, nonblinded, randomized controlled trial of 12-week duration was conducted. A total of 24 participants with mild-to-moderate chronic stroke were randomized to receive either the iSMART intervention or a manual of stroke rehabilitation (attention control). iSMART was a coach-guided, technology-supported self-management intervention designed to support people managing chronic conditions and maintaining active participation in daily life after stroke. Feasibility measures included retention and engagement rates in the iSMART group. For both the iSMART intervention and active control groups, we used the Feasibility of Intervention Measure, Acceptability of Intervention Measure, and Intervention Appropriateness Measure to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and appropriateness, respectively. Health measures included the Participation Strategies Self-Efficacy Scale and the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System’s Self-Efficacy for Managing Chronic Conditions. Results The retention rate was 82% (9/11), and the engagement (SMS text message response) rate was 78% for the iSMART group. Mean scores of the Feasibility of Intervention Measure, Acceptability of Intervention Measure, and Intervention Appropriateness Measure were 4.11 (SD 0.61), 4.44 (SD 0.73), and 4.36 (SD 0.70), respectively, which exceeded our benchmark (4 out of 5), suggesting high feasibility, acceptability, and appropriateness of iSMART. The iSMART group showed moderate-to-large effects in improving self-efficacy in managing emotions (r=0.494), symptoms (r=0.514), daily activities (r=0.593), and treatments and medications (r=0.870), but the control group showed negligible-to-small effects in decreasing self-efficacy in managing emotions (r=0.252), symptoms (r=0.262), daily activities (r=0.136), and treatments and medications (r=0.049). In addition, the iSMART group showed moderate-to-large effects of increasing the use of participation strategies for management in the home (r=0.554), work (r=0.633), community (r=0.673), and communication activities (r=0.476). In contrast, the control group showed small-to-large effects of decreasing the use of participation strategies for management in the home (r=0.567), work (r=0.342, community (r=0.215), and communication activities (r=0.379). Conclusions Our findings support the idea that iSMART was feasible to improve poststroke self-management self-efficacy. Our results also support using a low-cost solution, such as SMS text messaging, to supplement traditional therapeutic patient education interventions. Further evaluation with a larger sample of participants is still needed. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov 202004137; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04743037?id=202004137&rank=1