Smartphone- and internet-assisted self-management and adherence tools to manage Parkinson’s disease (SMART-PD): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial (v7; 15 August 2014)

BACKGROUND: Nonadherence to treatment leads to suboptimal treatment outcomes and enormous costs to the economy. This is especially important in Parkinson’s disease (PD). The progressive nature of the degenerative process, the complex treatment regimens and the high rates of comorbid conditions make treatment adherence in PD a challenge. Clinicians have limited face-to-face consultation time with PD patients, making it difficult to comprehensively address non-adherence. The rapid growth of digital technologies provides an opportunity to improve adherence and the quality of decision-making during consultation. The aim of this randomised controlled trial (RCT) is to evaluate the impact of using a smartphone and web applications to promote patient self-management as a tool to increase treatment adherence and working with the data collected to enhance the quality of clinical consultation. METHODS/DESIGN: A 4-month multicentre RCT with 222 patients will be conducted to compare use of a smartphone- and internet-enabled Parkinson’s tracker smartphone app with treatment as usual for patients with PD and/or their carers. The study investigators will compare the two groups immediately after intervention. Seven centres across England (6) and Scotland (1) will be involved. The primary objective of this trial is to assess whether patients with PD who use the app show improved medication adherence compared to those receiving treatment as usual alone. The secondary objectives are to investigate whether patients who receive the app and those who receive treatment as usual differ in terms of quality of life, quality of clinical consultation, overall disease state and activities of daily living. We also aim to investigate the experience of those receiving the intervention by conducting qualitative interviews with a sample of participants and clinicians, which will be administered by independent researchers. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN45824264 (registered 5 November 2013) ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1745-6215-15-374) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.