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. 2022 Feb 28:13:834628.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.834628. eCollection 2022.

Empowering Families Through Technology: A Mobile-Health Project to Reduce the TAND Identification and Treatment Gap (TANDem)

Tosca-Marie Heunis  1 , Stacey Bissell  2 , Anna W Byars  3 , Jamie K Capal  4 , Nola Chambers  5 , Sebastián Cukier  6 , Peter E Davis  7 , Liesbeth De Waele  8   9 , Jennifer Flinn  10 , Sugnet Gardner-Lubbe  11 , Tanjala Gipson  12   13 , J Christopher Kingswood  14   15 , Darcy A Krueger  16   17 , Aubrey J Kumm  5 , Mustafa Sahin  7   18 , Eva Schoeters  19   20 , Catherine Smith  21 , Shoba Srivastava  22 , Megumi Takei  23 , Stephanie Vanclooster  1 , Agnies M van Eeghen  24   25 , Robert Waltereit  26 , Anna C Jansen  1   27 , Petrus J de Vries  5
Affiliations

Empowering Families Through Technology: A Mobile-Health Project to Reduce the TAND Identification and Treatment Gap (TANDem)

Tosca-Marie Heunis et al. Front Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Introduction: Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC) is a multi-system genetic disorder with various TSC-Associated Neuropsychiatric Disorders (TAND) that significantly impact the mental health and wellbeing of individuals with TSC and their caregivers. TAND represents the number one concern to families worldwide, yet is highly under-identified and under-treated. The clinician-administered TAND-Checklist (Lifetime version, TAND-L) has improved identification of TAND in clinical settings. However, many individuals with TSC and their caregivers still have difficulty accessing suitable support for diagnosis and evidence-informed interventions. The TANDem study is a community-based participatory research project with a broad range of TSC stakeholders aimed at reducing the TAND identification and treatment gap.

Objectives: Participatory research identified three priority next steps: 1) development and validation of a self-report, quantified version of the TAND Checklist (TAND-SQ) and building the TAND-SQ into a smartphone application, 2) generation of consensus clinical recommendations for the identification and treatment of TAND, to be incorporated as a TAND toolkit on the app, and 3) establishment of a global TAND consortium through networking, capacity-building and public engagement activities.

Methods: TANDem is a four-year project, and includes 24 consortium members from 10 countries representing all World Health Organization regions. Collaborators represent five stakeholder groups (family representatives, technology experts, clinical experts, non-profit organisations and researchers). Here we outline the project study protocol in detail, describing the scientific rationale, the project aims and objectives, the methods involved in participant recruitment, multi-site and multi-phase data collection, data analysis, ethical considerations including informed consent, data protection, privacy and confidentiality considerations related to the European Union General Data Protection Regulation and the USA Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. The expected outcomes and potential impact on the TSC community, implementation and dissemination of results, as well as future scale-up and scale-out plans are also discussed.

Conclusions: The TANDem project has the potential to transform the global TSC community by empowering families living with TSC through an easily accessible digital solution to allow them to document their own TAND needs linked to an evidence-informed toolkit to enhance personalised healthcare, and by providing healthcare professionals with consensus clinical recommendations to prevent, identify and manage TAND manifestations.

Keywords: TSC-associated neuropsychiatric disorders (TAND); behavioural phenotypes; digital technology; health app; personalised medicine; rare diseases; tuberous sclerosis complex.

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Conflict of interest statement

SB is funded by Cerebra to investigate sleep and behaviour in rare genetic syndromes, including TSC. PD receives partial salary support from Aucta Pharmaceuticals for a study of topical sirolimus for facial angiofibromas in TSC and Marinus Pharmaceuticals for a study of ganaxolone for TSC-related epilepsy. ACJ was on the scientific advisory group of the TOSCA international disease registry sponsored by Novartis. DK reports personal fees from Novartis Pharmaceuticals, personal fees from Greenwich Bioscience, grants from Marinus Pharmaceuticals, personal fees from Nobelpharma America, and personal fees from REGENXBIO outside the submitted work. MS reports grant support from Novartis, Biogen, Astellas, Aeovian, Bridgebio, and Aucta; and has served on Scientific Advisory Boards for Novartis, Roche, Regenxbio, SpringWorks Therapeutics, Jaguar Therapeutics, and Alkermes. CS receives salary support from GW Pharma, Mallinckrodt, Nobelpharma, Novartis, Ovid, UCB, and Upsher-Smith. PJdV was a study steering committee member of three phase III trials sponsored by Novartis and on the scientific advisory group of the TOSCA international disease registry sponsored by Novartis. AMvE reports a grant from GW Pharmaceuticals for TAND-related research during the conduct of the study. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The handling editor declared a shared affiliation, though no other collaboration, with one of the authors SB at the time of review.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
An overview of the TANDem project.
Figure 2
Figure 2
TAND consortium.
Figure 3
Figure 3
TAND consortium working groups. PI, principal investigator; Co-PI, Co-principal investigator.
Figure 4
Figure 4
TANDem project impact loop.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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