Evaluating a Knowledge Translation Tool for Parents

Diarrhea and vomiting in children is a common reason to visit the emergency department. There has been a lot of research on how best to treat children with diarrhea and vomiting who visit the emergency department; however, the care children receive varies by healthcare provider and across hospitals. Additionally, there are things parents can do at home to help manage childhood diarrhea and vomiting and potentially avoid a trip to the emergency department. This shows an urgent need for knowledge translation, that is, efforts to align research knowledge and healthcare practice. Actively involving parents in healthcare decisions has the potential to bridge this gap; however, there is little research on the best ways to communicate complex health information to parents of sick kids. In 2013, a national needs assessment was conducted with parents seeking care for their kids in general emergency departments (trekk.ca). This survey showed that 39% of parents looked for information about their child's health prior to coming to the emergency department and that 44% of these parents looked for this information on the internet. This means that the development and evaluation of digital tools to give parents timely and effective child health information has the potential to reduce unnecessary emergency department visits, empower parents in health decision-making, and ultimately improve child health outcomes. In this project, parents will be actively involved in the evaluation of a digital tool, a whiteboard animation video, designed to communicate the best research evidence on the treatment and management of vomiting and diarrhea in children. In this pilot trial, parents in two emergency departments will be randomized to view the video or a sham video, and then provide quantitative and qualitative data on the potential effectiveness of the video, the perceived benefit and value of the knowledge translation intervention for pediatric vomiting and diarrhea, the feasibility of using iPads and an electronic data collection platform to conduct research with this population, the time required to complete data collection, and parents' willingness to participate in future, similar research.

Sex

All

Maximum age

16 Years

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Parent or caregiver of a child 16 years old or younger
2. Child is presenting to the ED with vomiting and diarrhea
3. Parent is fluent in English
4. Parent is willing to be contacted for follow-up data collection

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Child has significant chronic gastrointestinal problem or inflammatory bowel disease (i.e., Crohn's Disease, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Ulcerative Colitis, chronic constipation)
2. Child is taking immunosuppressive therapy or known history of immunodeficiency
3. Child has undergone oral or gastrointestinal surgery within the preceding 7 days
4. Child has had a prior visit to ED for vomiting and diarrhea within the preceding 14 days

• DERIVEDHartling L, Elliott SA, Munan M, Scott SD. Web-Based Knowledge Translation Tool About Pediatric Acute Gastroenteritis for Parents: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR Form Res. 2023 May 25;7:e45276. doi: 10.2196/45276. PMID 37227758
• DERIVEDAlbrecht L, Scott SD, Hartling L. Evaluating a knowledge translation tool for parents about pediatric acute gastroenteritis: a pilot randomized trial. Pilot Feasibility Stud. 2018 Aug 2;4:131. doi: 10.1186/s40814-018-0318-0. eCollection 2018. PMID 30123522