StrokeNCT07745582
Improving Parent Sign-Up for a Children's Stroke Awareness Program
A study testing Printed Letter, E-mail Invitation and E-mail Invitation Plus Teacher Feedback in people with Stroke and Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, run by University of Macedonia at 1 site in Greece.
Trial summary
Many families do not sign up for a school-based stroke awareness program (FAST Heroes) that teaches children and parents to recognize stroke symptoms and act quickly. This study compared four different ways of encouraging parents to complete online registration for the program: a printed letter sent home, an email, an… Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Any ageHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Stroke, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
- What is being tested?
- Printed Letter, E-mail Invitation and E-mail Invitation Plus Teacher Feedback
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 37 participants
- Where
- 1 siteGreece
- Study dates
- 11 Sep 2024to 15 Jun 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 Any age
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Child, Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- School was implementing the FAST Heroes stroke awareness programme during the 2023-2024 school year
- Zero parental registrations recorded for the school prior to the start of the study (2024-2025 school year)
- School and/or parents provided informed consent to participate
Who cannot join
- Schools with one or more parental registrations already recorded prior to the study period
- Schools that did not provide consent to participate
- Schools not located in Greece
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
About this study
Official title: Behavioral Insights for Public Health Engagement: A Four-Arm School-Level Comparative Study on Parental Registration in FAST Heroes
Many families do not sign up for a school-based stroke awareness program (FAST Heroes) that teaches children and parents to recognize stroke symptoms and act quickly. This study compared four different ways of encouraging parents to complete online registration for the program: a printed letter sent home, an email, an email combined with follow-up reminders from teachers, and an email combined with teacher reminders plus an automated chatbot. Thirty-seven schools that had not previously had any parents register were assigned to one of these four approaches, and the study measured how many parents in each group registered within eight weeks. The goal was to identify practical, low-cost communication strategies that schools and public health programs can use to increase parent engagement with health education initiatives.
Read the detailed description
FAST Heroes is a school-based education programme that teaches kindergarten-aged children and their families to recognize stroke symptoms (using the FAST acronym: Face, Arms, Speech, Time) and to call emergency services promptly. A key component of the programme requires parents to complete online registration, but registration rates have historically been low. This study was conducted to identify communication strategies that could improve parental registration.
Eligible schools were those that had implemented the FAST Heroes programme during the prior school year (2023-2024) with zero parental registrations recorded. From the pool of eligible schools, participating schools were allocated at the school level to one of four conditions using a pre-specified, non-random balanced allocation procedure intended to achieve comparability across conditions in pupil numbers and school settlement category (urban versus non-urban, per the 2021 Greek Census classification): (1) a printed letter sent home with pupils; (2) an email sent directly to parents; (3) an email combined with weekly teacher-delivered reminders to parents for five weeks; and (4) an email combined with weekly teacher reminders plus an automated chatbot (delivered via a messaging app chatbot) sending parents reminders over the same five-week period.
The primary outcome was the proportion of parents who completed online registration within eight weeks of the initial prompt in their assigned condition. Because schools (not individual pupils) were the unit of allocation while registration was assessed at the level of individual pupils/families, the primary analysis used mixed-effects logistic regression with a random intercept for school to account for clustering within schools. Exploratory analyses examined whether the effect of condition varied by school settlement category (urban vs. non-urban) and by class size.
- Conditions
- Stroke, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
- Being tested
- Printed Letter, E-mail Invitation, E-mail Invitation Plus Teacher Feedback, Email Invitation Plus Teacher Feedback Plus Automated Chatbot
- Keywords
- parental registration, stroke awareness education, school-based intervention, FAST Heroes, chatbot
- Medical subject headings
- Stroke, Behavior
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Printed LetterBehavioural
A printed letter sent home with pupils, inviting parents to complete online registration for the FAST Heroes stroke awareness programme.
E-mail InvitationBehavioural
An e-mail sent directly to parents inviting them to complete online registration for the FAST Heroes stroke awareness programme.
E-mail Invitation Plus Teacher FeedbackBehavioural
An e-mail invitation to register, followed by weekly reminders delivered by teachers to parents over a five-week period.
Email Invitation Plus Teacher Feedback Plus Automated ChatbotBehavioural
An e-mail invitation to register, weekly teacher-delivered reminders, and an automated chatbot sending weekly reminders to parents, all over the same five-week period.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Printed Letter | Active comparator | Schools in this condition received a printed letter sent home with pupils inviting parents to complete online registration for the FAST Heroes programme. Receives: Behavioral: Printed Letter |
| Experimental | Schools in this condition received an email sent directly to parents inviting them to complete online registration for the FAST Heroes programme. Receives: Behavioral: E-mail Invitation | |
| E-mail Plus Teacher Feedback | Experimental | Schools in this condition received an email invitation to register, followed by weekly teacher-delivered reminders to parents for five weeks. Receives: Behavioral: E-mail Invitation Plus Teacher Feedback |
| E-mail Plus Teacher Feedback Plus Chatbot | Experimental | Schools in this condition received an email invitation to register, weekly teacher-delivered reminders, and an automated chatbot sending weekly reminders to parents over the same five-week period. Receives: Behavioral: Email Invitation Plus Teacher Feedback Plus Automated Chatbot |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Parental Registration Rate
Proportion of parents who completed online registration for the FAST Heroes stroke awareness programme, calculated per school condition.
Measured: Within 8 weeks of the initial registration prompt
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted4 Aug 2026
- Study start11 Sep 2024
- Primary completion15 Jun 2025
- Study completion15 Jun 2025
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Publications (1)Papers the sponsor has linked to this study.
- Other trials for StrokeStudies 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
- Health services research
- Allocation
- Non-randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 37 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- University of Macedonia
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
- Investigators
- Maria Baskini, PhD, Principal investigator, Aristotle University Of Thessaloniki
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07745582
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 14/15.06.2020
- Status last verified
- Aug 2026
- First submitted
- 29 Jul 2026
- Last updated
- 5 Aug 2026
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- Yes: Individual participant data that underlie the results reported in this study (after de-identification) will be available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Publications
Tsakpounidou K, van der Merwe J, Klinke ME, Webb C, Ouriques Martins SC, Proios H. FAST Heroes: Results of Cross-Country Implementation of a Global School-Based Stroke Education Campaign. Front Public Health. 2022 Apr 18;10:849023. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.849023. eCollection 2022.
PubMed 35509512
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 5 Aug 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Behavioral Insights for Public Health Engagement: A Four-Arm School-Level Comparative Study on Parental Registration in FAST Heroes
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07745582
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- 14/15.06.2020
- Conditions
- Stroke, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
- Keywords
- parental registration, stroke awareness education, school-based intervention, FAST Heroes, chatbot
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Enrolment
- 37 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- University of MacedoniaUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- 11 Sep 2024 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 15 Jun 2025 (actual)
- Study completion
- 15 Jun 2025 (actual)
- First posted
- 4 Aug 2026 (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.
Many families do not sign up for a school-based stroke awareness program (FAST Heroes) that teaches children and parents to recognize stroke symptoms and act quickly. This study compared four different ways of encouraging parents to complete online registration for the program: a printed letter sent home, an email, an email combined with follow-up reminders from teachers, and an email combined with teacher reminders plus an automated chatbot. Thirty-seven schools that had not previously had any parents register were assigned to one of these four approaches, and the study measured how many parents in each group registered within eight weeks. The goal was to identify practical, low-cost communication strategies that schools and public health programs can use to increase parent engagement with health education initiatives.
Detailed description
FAST Heroes is a school-based education programme that teaches kindergarten-aged children and their families to recognize stroke symptoms (using the FAST acronym: Face, Arms, Speech, Time) and to call emergency services promptly. A key component of the programme requires parents to complete online registration, but registration rates have historically been low. This study was conducted to identify communication strategies that could improve parental registration.
Eligible schools were those that had implemented the FAST Heroes programme during the prior school year (2023-2024) with zero parental registrations recorded. From the pool of eligible schools, participating schools were allocated at the school level to one of four conditions using a pre-specified, non-random balanced allocation procedure intended to achieve comparability across conditions in pupil numbers and school settlement category (urban versus non-urban, per the 2021 Greek Census classification): (1) a printed letter sent home with pupils; (2) an email sent directly to parents; (3) an email combined with weekly teacher-delivered reminders to parents for five weeks; and (4) an email combined with weekly teacher reminders plus an automated chatbot (delivered via a messaging app chatbot) sending parents reminders over the same five-week period.
The primary outcome was the proportion of parents who completed online registration within eight weeks of the initial prompt in their assigned condition. Because schools (not individual pupils) were the unit of allocation while registration was assessed at the level of individual pupils/families, the primary analysis used mixed-effects logistic regression with a random intercept for school to account for clustering within schools. Exploratory analyses examined whether the effect of condition varied by school settlement category (urban vs. non-urban) and by class size.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Health services research
- Allocation
- Non-randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 4
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Printed Letter | Active comparator | Behavioral: Printed LetterSchools in this condition received a printed letter sent home with pupils inviting parents to complete online registration for the FAST Heroes programme. |
| Experimental | Behavioral: E-mail InvitationSchools in this condition received an email sent directly to parents inviting them to complete online registration for the FAST Heroes programme. | |
| E-mail Plus Teacher Feedback | Experimental | Behavioral: E-mail Invitation Plus Teacher FeedbackSchools in this condition received an email invitation to register, followed by weekly teacher-delivered reminders to parents for five weeks. |
| E-mail Plus Teacher Feedback Plus Chatbot | Experimental | Behavioral: Email Invitation Plus Teacher Feedback Plus Automated ChatbotSchools in this condition received an email invitation to register, weekly teacher-delivered reminders, and an automated chatbot sending weekly reminders to parents over the same five-week period. |
Who may qualify
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Child, Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (3 listed)
- School was implementing the FAST Heroes stroke awareness programme during the 2023-2024 school year
- Zero parental registrations recorded for the school prior to the start of the study (2024-2025 school year)
- School and/or parents provided informed consent to participate
Key exclusion criteria (3 listed)
- Schools with one or more parental registrations already recorded prior to the study period
- Schools that did not provide consent to participate
- Schools not located in Greece
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Printed LetterA printed letter sent home with pupils, inviting parents to complete online registration for the FAST Heroes stroke awareness programme. | Behavioural | Printed Letter |
| E-mail InvitationAn e-mail sent directly to parents inviting them to complete online registration for the FAST Heroes stroke awareness programme. | Behavioural | |
| E-mail Invitation Plus Teacher FeedbackAn e-mail invitation to register, followed by weekly reminders delivered by teachers to parents over a five-week period. | Behavioural | E-mail Plus Teacher Feedback |
| Email Invitation Plus Teacher Feedback Plus Automated ChatbotAn e-mail invitation to register, weekly teacher-delivered reminders, and an automated chatbot sending weekly reminders to parents, all over the same five-week period. | Behavioural | E-mail Plus Teacher Feedback Plus Chatbot |
Primary outcome
Parental Registration Rate
Time frame: Within 8 weeks of the initial registration prompt
Proportion of parents who completed online registration for the FAST Heroes stroke awareness programme, calculated per school condition.
Results and safety
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 5 Aug 2026.
- Results publication: PubMed 35509512Tsakpounidou K, van der Merwe J, Klinke ME, Webb C, Ouriques Martins SC, Proios H. FAST Heroes: Results of Cross-Country Implementation of a Global School-Based Stroke Education Campaign. Front Public Health. 2022 Apr 18;10:849023. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.849023. eCollection 2022.
- Related InfoLink provided by the sponsor.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: Yes. Individual participant data that underlie the results reported in this study (after de-identification) will be available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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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.
Maria Baskini, PhD principal investigator
Aristotle University Of Thessaloniki
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Printed Letter, E-mail Invitation and E-mail Invitation Plus Teacher Feedback in people with Stroke and Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, run by University of Macedonia at 1 site in Greece.
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 3 inclusion and 3 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: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 5 Aug 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in Greece. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
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 is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
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?
Parental Registration Rate (time frame: Within 8 weeks of the initial registration prompt). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT07745582, which also lists 1 linked publication.
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 5 Aug 2026.