Peer Facilitated Waitlist Controlled Transportation Study

Purpose

The goal of this clinical trial is to test the effectiveness of a peer-facilitated travel intervention in adults with serious mental illnesses. This project aims to address the following hypotheses: 1. Individuals with SMI receiving either of the two peer-mediated travel training transportation interventions will experience an increase in transportation self-efficacy and transportation skills. 2. Participants in the intervention arms will increase their transport utilization, participate in significantly more activities in the community, and make significantly more trips in the community. 3. Individuals with SMI receiving peer-mediated travel training interventions will retain post-test levels of community participation and self-efficacy 2 months after intervention. Participants will be assigned to an 8-week travel-training intervention either using a bike-share program or public transportation. All participants will complete three data-collection research interviews.

Condition

  • Serious Mental Illness

Eligibility

Eligible Ages
Between 18 Years and 65 Years
Eligible Sex
All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
No

Inclusion Criteria

  • are between the ages of 18 and 65 - are diagnosed with a SMI (confirmed via the MINI) - score at least an 8 on a travel skills assessment - indicates that they can ride a bicycle - have expressed interest in using a bikeshare and public transportation - are able to provide informed consent

Exclusion Criteria

  • score less than 8 on a travel skills assessment - express no interest in independent transportation - are non-English speaking individuals - are unable to provide consent - are living in a setting where mobility and participation is restricted - have a limiting physical condition that would prevent their ability to ride a bicycle independently

Study Design

Phase
N/A
Study Type
Interventional
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention Model
Parallel Assignment
Intervention Model Description
Participants will be randomly assigned to either start the intervention program immediately, or be placed on an 8-week waitlist. Once randomized, the participant will again be randomized into a treatment condition: 1) peer-mediated bikeshare training intervention; or 2) peer-mediated public travel training intervention. 20 participants from each condition who have not opted out of being in the GPS subsample will be randomly assigned to be invited to a GPS subgroup.
Primary Purpose
Other
Masking
None (Open Label)

Arm Groups

ArmDescriptionAssigned Intervention
Experimental
Bike-Share
Participants in this arm will participate in an 8-week bikeshare training program, using Indego, the bike sharing service in Philadelphia. The first sessions will be aimed at increasing knowledge of the bike share program and the procedures for utilizing it successfully. Then participants will meet with a peer support specialist, who will help facilitate individualized route planning and independent ride support. Peer support specialists will use motivational interviewing during these individual sessions in order to help participants identify personally meaningful motivations for participation and to enhance their sense of self-efficacy.
  • Behavioral: Bike-Share Travel Training
    Half of the participants not assigned to the waitlist will begin the bike-share intervention arm immediately after the baseline research interview. The bike-share arm will last for 8 weeks and be delivered by a community peer specialist. Half of the participants assigned to the waitlist will begin the bike-share intervention arm after an 8-week waiting period.
Experimental
Public Transportation
An established travel-training program developed for individuals with disabilities, including those with SMI, serves as the curriculum for the public transportation intervention arm. Participants will use SEPTA, the public transportation provider in Philadelphia and surrounding areas. We will offer an 8-week intervention which will include instruction on foundational skills needed to travel on public transportation and 1-on-1 direct training in using public transportation. Participants will meet twice weekly for direct instruction and role-playing sessions to cover the core components and the latter weeks of intervention will be focused on individual travel training instruction provided by the peer support interventionists, with participants and peer support interventionists meeting for two travel trips each week.
  • Behavioral: Public Transportation Travel Training
    Half of the participants not assigned to the waitlist or bike-share arm will begin the public transportation intervention arm immediately after the baseline research interview. The public transportation arm will last for 8 weeks and be delivered by a community peer specialist. Half of the participants assigned to the waitlist will begin the public transportation intervention arm after an 8-week waiting period.
No Intervention
Waitlist Control
Half of the participants in either arm (bike-share or public transportation) will be randomly assigned to either begin the intervention immediately, or be placed on a waitlist, serving as a control arm. The waitlist will be 8 weeks long, the same timeline as the intervention. After the eighth week, participants assigned to the waitlist will then begin the intervention for the next 8 weeks. Participants assigned to starting the intervention immediately will then be placed on the waitlist for the second-8 weeks of the total study enrollment.

Recruiting Locations

Pathways To Housing PA
Philadelphia 4560349, Pennsylvania 6254927 19141

More Details

NCT ID
NCT06370767
Status
Recruiting
Sponsor
Temple University

Study Contact

Gillian A MacDonald, BA
‪(267) 225-0218‬
gillian.macdonald@temple.edu

Detailed Description

This project proposes using a two-armed, waitlist controlled trial to test the effectiveness of peer-facilitated travel interventions and their ability to enhance community mobility and increase feelings of self-efficacy in individuals with serious mental illness (SMI). The first intervention arm is an 8-week bikeshare intervention, which consists of individual trainings on using a bike sharing program; the second intervention arm is an 8-week public transportation intervention, which consists of individual trainings for using public transportation in the Philadelphia area. The investigators seek to enroll a total of 180 individuals from community mental health agencies in the Philadelphia area and expect recruitment to take 3 years. Eligible participants will be individuals who meet criteria indicating that they have an SMI, are between the ages of 18-65, and are both willing and able to learn to use public transportation and ride a bicycle. Data will be collected via face-to-face or web-based video call interviews at 3 time points: baseline, 2-months post-baseline, and 4-months post-baseline. Participants will also complete short surveys about their travel behaviors over the phone in the seven days after each interview. There will also be a subsample of participants who will provide additional GPS data.