# A pilot to develop and test an Interactive Computer-adaptive Chronic Kidney Disease education program for hospitalized African American patients (I-C-CKD)

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO · 2021 · $207,571

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
African Americans with chronic kidney disease (CKD) experience disparities in the quality of their medical care,
self-care and preparation for end stage renal disease (ESRD). Patient education can help African American
patients with advanced CKD decide to engage in self-care to delay progression to ESRD and to learn about
ESRD treatment options. Hospitalization represents a “missed opportunity” to provide CKD education and
ESRD planning to help patients make informed choices about their care that align with their preferences. Many
patients are hospitalized within three months of dialysis initiation. The hospital also captures patients who are
not otherwise well-linked to the medical system. In prior work, our team developed and implemented a
culturally-tailored, multi-modality patient education intervention for hospitalized African American patients with
advanced CKD using a racially concordant in-person educator and literacy-sensitive education materials. Our
intervention was feasible and effective. However, using an in-person patient educator is resource-intensive. In
this proposal, we will develop an interactive, computer adaptive patient education intervention that benefits
from the convenience of electronic media with the patient-centered benefits of an in-person educator. We will
also determine the efficacy of the computer-adaptive education in improving knowledge for hospitalized African
American patients with advanced chronic CKD as compared to usual care. We have assembled a strong team
with skills in chronic kidney disease health disparities, hospital-based interventions, culturally-tailored patient-
education, motivational interviewing, and technology-based interventions for patient education. This R21 pilot
and feasibility trial will enable the team to build and test the efficacy and acceptability of the computer-adaptive
education intervention prior to a larger scale randomized R01-level study.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10112233
- **Project number:** 5R21DK121262-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
- **Principal Investigator:** MILDA Renne SAUNDERS
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $207,571
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-04-01 → 2023-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10112233

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10112233, A pilot to develop and test an Interactive Computer-adaptive Chronic Kidney Disease education program for hospitalized African American patients (I-C-CKD) (5R21DK121262-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10112233. Licensed CC0.

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