Innovative practices on Tuberculosis control: VDOT Technologies's use in the pandemic Covid 19 context

• Grant number: 24/03738-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: May 01, 2024
• End date: April 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Nursing - Public Health Nursing
• Principal Investigator: Ricardo Alexandre Arcêncio
• Grantee: André Luiz Teixeira Vinci
• Host Institution: Escola de Enfermagem de Ribeirão Preto (EERP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 22/08510-7 - Interaction and effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on Tuberculosis control in the State of São Paulo: political-social, clinical-epidemiological aspects and innovative practices, AP.TEM

Abstract

This is a pragmatic study, of implementation science that will be carried out in municipalities of the state of São Paulo, selected according to the following criteria: high number of tuberculosis (TB) and Multidrug-resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) cases, high percentage of abandonment, low coverage of directly observed treatment strategy (DOT). The study population consists of people diagnosed with tuberculosis, according to the criteria defined by the Ministry of Health, with availability and ownership of mobile telephony and casual internet access. Participants will be randomized into three groups, distributed according to the type of treatment: Self-administered Treatment (SAT), Conventional Directly Observed Treatment or routine in the municipality (CDOT-R) or Asynchronous VDOT with the use of a smartphone application. A questionnaire with socio-demographic and clinical information will be applied, hosted in its electronic version in the RED-CAP environment. Costs related to the VDOT intervention and those related to TB care will be estimated. Regarding the analyses, descriptive statistics will be applied with calculation of measures of position and dispersion, and absolute and relative frequencies. A comparative analysis will be carried out between the three groups (SAT, CDOT-R, and VDOT), using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) for one criterion, when the assumptions of parametric analysis are met, or Kruskal-Wallis test if violated. When statistically significant (p<0.05), a multiple comparison test will be applied