Musculoskeletal DiseasesNCT04932993
Writing Down Goals
A study testing Writing down goals in people with Musculoskeletal Diseases, run by University of Texas at Austin.
Trial summary
The women's health IPU at UT Health Austin is happy with having patients write down their goals at their first visit and then tracking those. It would be interesting to study people seeking musculoskeletal specialty care to determine whether asking patients what result of their care would be rated a success helps… Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 to 89 years
- Conditions the study is for
- Musculoskeletal Diseases
- What is being tested?
- Writing down goals
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 0 participants
- Where
- No sites listed yet
- Study dates
- 1 Sep 2025to 1 Nov 2025
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- None posted in the registry
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 to 89 years
- All sexes
- No healthy volunteers
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- Adult patients (18+)
- Orthopedic visit
Who cannot join
- Patients who are illiterate.
- Patients who do not speak English.
About this study
The women's health IPU at UT Health Austin is happy with having patients write down their goals at their first visit and then tracking those. It would be interesting to study people seeking musculoskeletal specialty care to determine whether asking patients what result of their care would be rated a success helps direct the clinician-patient interaction in a more fruitful direction compared to the usual clinical interaction.
Read the detailed description
People's stated preferences are often inconsistent with what matters most to them (their values). And they are often based on misconceptions, distress, and less effective cognitive coping strategies. For instance, a person might say "My goal is to have no pain" when that is not possible. Or they might say "My goal is to get the shot that fixes this" when there is no such shot. It may go without saying that people want: "To be able to live a normal lifestyle" and "To be able to accomplish most of their goals." In other words, people want to be able to be themselves. They are seeking care because they are not able to be themselves or they are concerned that they may not be able to be themselves. The word health comes from an old German word meaning "whole."
One part of good health is correcting or alleviating pathophysiology (e.g. reading glasses). Another part of good health is evolving one's inner narrative (e.g. "I'm older now and need glasses to read").
The women's health IPU at UT Health Austin is happy with having patients write down their goals at their first visit and then tracking those. It would be interesting to study people seeking musculoskeletal specialty care to determine whether asking patients what result of their care would be rated a success helps direct the clinician-patient interaction in a more fruitful direction compared to the usual clinical interaction.
- Conditions
- Musculoskeletal Diseases
- Being tested
- Writing down goals
- Keywords
- decisional conflict, Orthopedics
- Medical subject headings
- Musculoskeletal Diseases
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Writing down goalsBehavioural
Patient will write their health goals down before the visit.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Standard care | No intervention | Will not write down goals their goals for their medical care (usual care). |
| Writing down goals | Experimental | Will write down goals their goals for their medical care. Receives: Behavioral: Writing down goals |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Decision conflict questionnaire
Questionnaire assessing decision conflict
Measured: Baseline
Secondary outcomes (4)
Decision regret questionnaire
Questionnaire assessing the degree of regret of decision
Measured: Baseline
Jefferson Scale of Patient's Perceptions of Physician Empathy
Patient perceived of physician empathy as measured by the JSPPE
Measured: Baseline
Patient Activation Measure-13
Patient activation as measured by PAM-13
Measured: Baseline
Guttman Satisfaction scale
Questionnaire measuring to what degree patients are satisfied with the care they received.
Measured: Baseline
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted21 Jun 2021
- Study start1 Sep 2025 (estimated)
- Primary completion1 Oct 2025 (estimated)
- Study completion1 Nov 2025 (estimated)
Why it stopped: Deemed not feasible.
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for Musculoskeletal DiseasesStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Model description
- All new, adult (18+ years old) patients seeing an orthopedic surgeon for a consultation will be invited to participate in this study. Patients randomly will be assigned to: write down goals their goals for their medical care (intervention) or not (usual visit control group). The research assistant will ask the patient to fill out a survey entailing demographics, JSPPE, the communication effectiveness score, the PAM score and a satisfaction scale at the end of the visit. A research assistant will record the diagnosis,
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 0 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- University of Texas at Austin
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Principal investigator, David Ring, University of Texas at Austin
- Investigators
- David Ring, MD, PhD, Principal investigator, Professor of Surgery, Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT04932993
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 2019-07-0089
- Status last verified
- Jul 2025
- First submitted
- 8 Jun 2021
- Last updated
- 31 Jul 2025
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- No
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 31 Jul 2025. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Writing Down Goals
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT04932993
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- 2019-07-0089
- Conditions
- Musculoskeletal Diseases
- Keywords
- decisional conflict, Orthopedics
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- WithdrawnReason stopped: Deemed not feasible.
- Enrolment
- 0 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- University of Texas at AustinUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- 1 Sep 2025 (estimated)
- Primary completion
- 1 Oct 2025 (estimated)
- Study completion
- 1 Nov 2025 (estimated)
- First posted
- 21 Jun 2021 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
The women's health IPU at UT Health Austin is happy with having patients write down their goals at their first visit and then tracking those. It would be interesting to study people seeking musculoskeletal specialty care to determine whether asking patients what result of their care would be rated a success helps direct the clinician-patient interaction in a more fruitful direction compared to the usual clinical interaction.
Detailed description
People's stated preferences are often inconsistent with what matters most to them (their values). And they are often based on misconceptions, distress, and less effective cognitive coping strategies. For instance, a person might say "My goal is to have no pain" when that is not possible. Or they might say "My goal is to get the shot that fixes this" when there is no such shot. It may go without saying that people want: "To be able to live a normal lifestyle" and "To be able to accomplish most of their goals." In other words, people want to be able to be themselves. They are seeking care because they are not able to be themselves or they are concerned that they may not be able to be themselves. The word health comes from an old German word meaning "whole."
One part of good health is correcting or alleviating pathophysiology (e.g. reading glasses). Another part of good health is evolving one's inner narrative (e.g. "I'm older now and need glasses to read").
The women's health IPU at UT Health Austin is happy with having patients write down their goals at their first visit and then tracking those. It would be interesting to study people seeking musculoskeletal specialty care to determine whether asking patients what result of their care would be rated a success helps direct the clinician-patient interaction in a more fruitful direction compared to the usual clinical interaction.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 2
- Model description
- All new, adult (18+ years old) patients seeing an orthopedic surgeon for a consultation will be invited to participate in this study. Patients randomly will be assigned to: write down goals their goals for their medical care (intervention) or not (usual visit control group). The research assistant will ask the patient to fill out a survey entailing demographics, JSPPE, the communication effectiveness score, the PAM score and a satisfaction scale at the end of the visit. A research assistant will record the diagnosis,
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Standard care | No intervention | –Will not write down goals their goals for their medical care (usual care). |
| Writing down goals | Experimental | Behavioral: Writing down goalsWill write down goals their goals for their medical care. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 to 89 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Not accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (2 listed)
- Adult patients (18+)
- Orthopedic visit
Key exclusion criteria (2 listed)
- Patients who are illiterate.
- Patients who do not speak English.
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Writing down goalsPatient will write their health goals down before the visit. | Behavioural | Writing down goals |
Primary outcome
Decision conflict questionnaire
Time frame: Baseline
Questionnaire assessing decision conflict
4 secondary outcomes
Decision regret questionnaire
Time frame: Baseline
Jefferson Scale of Patient's Perceptions of Physician Empathy
Time frame: Baseline
Patient Activation Measure-13
Time frame: Baseline
Guttman Satisfaction scale
Time frame: Baseline
Results and safety
The study was withdrawn before enrolling participants, so there are no results.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 31 Jul 2025.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: No
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
David Ring, MD, PhD principal investigator
Professor of Surgery, Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Writing down goals in people with Musculoskeletal Diseases, run by University of Texas at Austin.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 2 inclusion and 2 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: withdrawn, as of the sponsor's last update on 31 Jul 2025. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
The study was withdrawn before enrolling participants, so there are no results.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Decision conflict questionnaire (time frame: Baseline). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 31 Jul 2025.