Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications
Language
English
Publication Date
2-1-2023
Journal
Contemporary Clinical Trials
DOI
10.1016/j.cct.2022.107044
PMID
36473682
PMCID
PMC9721158
PubMedCentral® Posted Date
12-5-2022
PubMedCentral® Full Text Version
Post-print
Abstract
Background: eHealth interventions using active video games (AVGs) offer an alternative method to help children exercise, especially during a pandemic where options are limited. There is limited data on costs associated with developing and implementing such interventions.
Objectives: We quantified the costs of delivering an eHealth RCT intervention among minority children during COVID-19.
Methods: We categorized the total trial cost into five subcategories: intervention material development, advertising and recruitment, intervention delivery, personnel salaries, and COVID-19-related equipment costs.
Results: The total RCT cost was $1,927,807 (Direct: $1,227,903; Indirect: $699,904) with three visits required for each participant. The average cost per participant completing the RCT (79 participants/237 visits) was $24,403 (Direct: $15,543; Indirect: $8860). Due to no-shows and cancellations (198 visits) and dropouts before study completion (61 visits; 56 participants), 496 visits had to be scheduled to ensure complete data collection on 79 participants. If all 496 visits were from participants completing the three-visit protocol, that would correspond to 165 participants, bringing the average cost per participant down to $11,684 (Direct: $7442; Indirect: $4242). Of the subcategories, intervention material development accounted for the largest portion, followed by personnel salaries. While the direct COVID-19-specific cost constituted <1% of the entire budget, the indirect effects were much larger and significantly impacted the trial.
Conclusion: RCTs typically involve significant resources, even more so during a pandemic. Future eHealth intervention investigators should budget and plan accordingly to prepare for unexpected costs such as recruitment challenges to increase flexibility while maximizing the intervention efficacy.
Keywords
Humans, Child, COVID-19, Pandemics, Exercise, Costs and Cost Analysis, Telemedicine, Intervention cost, Budget planning, Active video game, Exergame, Physical activity, Child obesity
Published Open-Access
yes
Recommended Citation
Monashefsky, Alexandra; Alon, Dar; Baranowski, Tom; et al., "How Much Did It Cost To Develop and Implement an eHealth Intervention for a Minority Children Population That Overlapped With the COVID-19 Pandemic?" (2023). Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications. 136.
https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/staff_pub/136
Included in
Biochemical Phenomena, Metabolism, and Nutrition Commons, COVID-19 Commons, Dietetics and Clinical Nutrition Commons, Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism Commons, Epidemiology Commons, Nutrition Commons