Evaluating innovative technology tools for managing a clinical trial in a public health setting to reduce risk of antepartum depression

Background: Despite the advantages of using technology, few if any, have described a research team's evaluations of electronic processes for managing a clinical trial. This paper presents evaluations from the perspective of the staff and research assistants (n=10) who used electronic technology tools to manage a NIMH funded randomized clinical trial (2012-13) of an intervention to reduce risk of antepartum depression in low-income and minority women in a public health setting. The electronic technology resources and tools will be described including: 1) An electronic survey for use on Netbooks; 2) Netbooks programmed with electronic surveys for interviewers to enter data and to access the Insight-Plus study drive while interviewing pregnant woman at the clinical sites; 3) A dedicated drive on the University server used to develop and share documents among team members and track research progress; 4) A web-based secure drive to save identifiable data; 5) Electronic team calendars used for making appointments for potential participants. Methods: Non-experimental descriptive survey using an electronic survey with yes/no and likert scale responses to evaluate the effectiveness and helpfulness of the technology tools. Results: Quantitative data will be provided on how frequently the research staff used these tools per working day; judged the user friendliness of the technology tools; and evaluated the impact of these tools on the ease of this research project. Discussion: Technology tools that are effective and helpful to this research staff will be discussed in terms of how they can be useful for research, especially for multidisciplinary teams.