ArticleContemporary clinical trials2023
How much did it cost to develop and implement an eHealth intervention for a minority children population that overlapped with the COVID-19 pandemic?
Article in Contemporary clinical trials, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 4 citations in OpenAlex.
- The impact of narratives and active video games among black and hispanic children with overweight and obesity: a randomized controlled trial.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2025Trial
- Evaluating the costs of developing a digital supervision tool for task-shared depression care: findings from a multi-site study in India.BJPsych open · 2026Article
- Digital Twins for Just-in-Time Adaptive Interventions (JITAIs): Framework for Optimizing and Continually Improving JITAIs.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Developing a Program Costs Checklist of Digital Health Interventions: A Scoping Review and Empirical Case Study.PharmacoEconomics · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors at 10 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundeHealth 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.
objectivesWe quantified the costs of delivering an eHealth RCT intervention among minority children during COVID-19.
methodsWe categorized the total trial cost into five subcategories: intervention material development, advertising and recruitment, intervention delivery, personnel salaries, and COVID-19-related equipment costs.
resultsThe 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.
conclusionRCTs 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.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.